It is Hard to Beat Fresh-Picked Green Beans

At some point in April is the time that we normally harvest our first mess of green beans.  I always look forward to this time.  The nights are still kind of cool and enjoyable and a respite from the sweltering days to come.  These nice temperatures are kind to the beans enabling them to not be as stressed from the overbearing heat that will cause them to fade and droop in months to come.

I come in from work and try harvest two rows of beans before the big ball of burning gas dips beneath the western horizon.  The hens cackle as they scurry to their appointed roosting spots for the night.  Soon I'll head to my roosting spot, too.

Healthy Green Beans

This year I planted my favorite varieties: Contenders, Blue Lake, and Italian Roma II.  In the photo below you can see the Romas.  They are a flat, tasty bean and are my favorite.

In a short time, I pick a bucket full of perfect, unmarred green beans (haricot verts).  Later in the season, I have to cut off bug damage from some of the beans.  Not so, today.  They are beautiful beans, crisp and fresh.  Since we're using wood chip mulch in the garden, the vegetables all stay so clean, but I still like to give them a good washing before snapping off the ends.

I like to pick most of the beans when they are young.  I like them tender.  Sometimes the bigger ones are tough and can be "woody."  A few were larger than I like, but after a rain, I find they grow so quickly.  It is important to pick every other night to keep on top of the harvest and not let them get too big.

This weekend we lit up the fire pit with a lot of live oak and pecan branches that we picked up in the yard after the recent storm.  The fire pit has a grill and we like to cook over a real wood fire.  We put plenty of butter in the bottom of a cast iron dutch oven, sliced some onions and let them saute for a bit.  Then we added the fresh snapped green beans.

In no time they were cooked to perfection.  We just added some salt, cracked black pepper and a little cayenne.

I like to space out and stagger the plantings of green beans, so that when these plants "play out," another planting of green beans will be blooming and I can soon harvest those.  I learned this from a good friend that moved to north Louisiana.  He told me one time that his Daddy aimed to keep green beans growing for months using the staggered planting model.

I like that technique.  I can eat green beans and never get tired of them.  I've asked Tricia to cook them soon using one of my other favorite green bean recipes - bacon wrapped green beans.  (Of course anything tastes good with bacon wrapped around it, right?)