Preserving: Drying Scarlet Runner Beans
At the end of the season, I let the last of my Scarlet Runner Beans "go to seed." One year I saved the seeds to plant the following spring, but all I got was plant, no beans.
This year I saved what was left of my beans to dry for cooking.
Scarlet Runner Beans make very large pods if you let them go. Inside, the seeds really increase in size and plump out.
Before cutting down my bean plants (I grow mine in a cut down 55-gallon plastic barrel), I removed the dried bean pods.
Having dried on the vine, the pods are easy to pop open to remove the partially dried seeds from inside.
To make sure that the beans are completely dry before storing, I leave them in a pan and place them near a window where the warm fall sunshine will complete the drying process.
I store the beans in canning jars. I don't get much from my one barrel of bean plants, but there'll be enough to make a pot of chili and beans this coming winter. Waste not, want not. -- Margy
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Gardening,
Preserving
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They are such a pretty plant and prolific, too. We used to grow them years ago but never knew that they were edible.
ReplyDeleteI love growing scarlett runner beans. The last lot of seeds I got when we were visiting our daughter in Sooke a couple of November's ago and their neighbour had them going through the fence, so I couldn't resist taking a few pods for growing the next season. They grew well. These are beans that we grow in England all the time and when picked young they are delicious.
ReplyDeleteI just love the color of the beans. It is strange to think about, but when I was a kid my grandmother had some Scarlet Runner Beans and she used them only for the flowers - she said the beans were deadly poison - I had never heard any different until years later when friends were cooking and eating them - I was amazed that they didn't die - but was glad also.
ReplyDeleteThey are pretty in color the seeds.
ReplyDelete