[parttimer]

I had a bit of space left over on the plot so I put in 2 wigwams of Jimenez Climbing Beans, they look alot like Belotti and the pack says to harvest as fresh beans or dry and shell. My question is how do I store and how do we prepare for eating? They looked pretty on the packet and they brighten the plot!

[BobE]

I managed to find this which may help.

https://www.sycamoretrading.co.uk/vegetables/seeds/french-bean-jimenez/prod_847.html?ccUser=

[New shoot]

I grow quite a lot of borlotti beans, both the bush sort and I have Jiminez, the climbing ones.

If they have gone in as a late space filler, you are best picking them as flat pods and using them as french beans.  They are going to run out of time to produce beans for storing. 

If they have been in a while and you have pods forming, you have 2 other choices.  You can harvest the beans when the pods are swollen, but still not drying out.  To store, I blanch and freeze them and they are great for soups, or cooked and used for bean salads. 

Otherwise, leave the pods as long as you can on the plants and they naturally turn into dried beans.  As long as they are mostly dry, you can finish this process on the windowsill if the weather suddenly goes downhill.  Once the pods are dry, shell the beans and you have dried beans that will keep in an airtight container until you need them 

As you might gather, I'm a borlotti fan   

[sunshineband]

Thanks for that reminder New Shoot, with enough detail to help parttimer too   

[parttimer]

Thank you. They have been in a while and we have picked a few for fresh but I am quite keen to try them dried. We have a lot of stews over the winter and I'm hoping to use them for that, would they need to be presoaked for this?

[New shoot]

Yes, pre soak and give them a quick 10 minute parboil before chucking them into stews