Fresh Green Beans 2015

We planted two different varieties of green beans in our garden this year - Contender Green Beans and Italian Roma II Green Beans.  Normally I plant some Dragon Tongue Beans too, but I didn't plant any this year.  I'll probably put some in this Fall.  I like the novelty of the purple stripes on them, but they also taste great. Once the storm clouds departed from our seemingly unending deluge, I went out and checked on our three rows of beans. They were loaded up with blooms!

Blooming Beans

I think the blooms are very pretty...

But it's what comes after the blooms that I get excited about!  Time to get a bucket, straddle the rows and start picking.  I tend to be impatient, but you really have to slow down when you are hand picking green beans.  I use two hands to pull them, because if you use only one, you run the risk of pulling the whole end off of the bush and losing many blooms and baby green beans.  It's just better to slow down, hold the stem with one hand and pull the bean off with the other.  Better safe than sorry.

Ready for Picking!

In just one day I picked roughly a 5 gallon bucket of Contender Green Beans.  Of course we can't eat all of those in one sitting, so we normally blanch them and freeze in Quart size freezer bags.  That enables us to pull a bag out of the freezer for a fresh frozen side dish for many meals - long after 'green bean season' has ended.

I'll dump out batches of beans into our vegetable sink and fill it with water and swish the beans around in the water with my hands.   This allows the tiny bugs and worms to float to the top and I remove them.

Removing the critters

Then I'll put them in a colander and spray water over them to make sure they are really clean

Clean Beans

Although I like Contender green beans, my absolute favorite are the Italian Roma green beans.  The pods are flat in shape and they don't yield as much as the Contenders do, but the flavor of the beans are fantastic.  I really look forward to eating these each year.

Italian Roma Beans

Sometimes we leave the green beans that we're going to blanch and freeze whole and sometimes we cut them in half or in thirds prior to blanching.

Cutting the beans up

I'll get some water heating up on the stove top.  When it is boiling, I'll place a colander full of beans in the water, put the cover on, and set the timer for 3 minutes. Blanching stops the enzyme that breaks down the color, flavor and texture of the beans, so if you are going to freeze them, it is a must.

Set the timer for 3 minutes

I'll fill a clean sink with ice water and when I remove the beans from the boiling water, I dump them directly into a colander sitting in the water.  This quickly stops the cooking process.  The beans will retain the beautiful green color and crispness that you are accustomed to with fresh green beans that is unlike the dull, dark green, soft beans you get with canned beans.

Cooling them down

Then we drain them and put the beans into the quart sized freezer bags and stack them up in the freezer.  I have to check the rows of beans every few days, because the harvest just keeps on coming. It is a good thing to get the beans planted before it really gets hot as the beans will drop the blossoms as the high temperatures arrive, drastically reducing your yield.  We're looking forward to putting lots in the freezer, maybe canning a few, and definitely eating a bunch of them fresh, cooked along with new potatoes!