RUNNER BEANS

Does anyone know if there is anything you can do with runner beans that have gone past their best - we have been on holiday and have loads?  

Get them off the plant quickly, otherwise the plants will stop producing more beans (their aim in life is to produce viable 'beans' i.e. seeds, for next year's crop; by regular harvesting we prevent them from doing this, as soon as they manage it, their life's work is achieved and they stop flowering).  When I go away, I take off even the smallest beans; you have to be cruel to be kind!

If they're tough and stringy, then the best thing you can do is to throw them onto the compost heap - nobody will thank you for serving them up.  You can take the red beans out of the pods and eat them - like many people do with broad beans (personally I eat my broad beans like I do runner beans, young & entire).

You can also leave the pods to dry out, and then harvest the dried beans and use them over the winter like kidney beans.

You can also eat the beans.