french beans

[Headfry]

Hi there, this year I have grown my french beans for the seeds ie Harricots.
When do I harvest them and how do should I store them please.
I have a fab recipe for 'baked beans' and hope to use my beans for this and to add to stews.
Thank you

[muckdiva]

Hi Headfry
I'm no expert on these; hopefully one will be along soon but I did grow a crop of Hutterite Soup beans last year and as I was saving for seed, I just waited for the pods to go papery. The beans inside were semi-dry and after a few days in a tray inside the house they were fine for storing in jars. Look out for bean 'insects' (are they called weevils?) They make neat round holes in the beans and if you get one in your stored crop they will spoil them. Some people store their dried beans in the freezer to avoid this I believe....

By the way, just a plug for Hutterite Soup variety of beans. Got 10 of these from the Heritage Seed Library and they cropped superbly - really prolific. I imagine they'd do good baked beans as well.

[Jardiniere]

i have left mine 'on the vine' til they were really dry - but it has been very hot and dry here this year - and then i pick the whole plant leaving roots in ground to dig up later ..and any that arent totally dry i put on the jumper drying rack part of my clothes dryer....i then store in paper bags inside a tin container....have only done it twice so far so arent a real expert .....but mine were OK. I did grow borlotti especially this year but also have dried cobra, ordinary green, purple and yellow haricots - basically anything that dried up before i could pick them fresh....

[zazen999]

When they go from the first photo on here, to the second. These are borlottis, but you can see the difference in other beans as the pods are dry and crackly and can be snapped off rather than pulled.

Depod them or leave them in the pods to dry out completely, and then you can store them in kilner jars; pop a sachet of silica gel in the jar to keep them nice and dry. A test to see if the beans are dry enough is to bite them, and if you can't make tooth marks, they are dry enough to go in the jars.

[ginger ninger]

I've been asking all my friends for there "Douwe Egbert" coffee jars to store my dried beans in, and they look so pretty on the shelf in the kitchen,

[Headfry]

Thanks folks! I have 'Cobra' and a dwarf french bean to experiment with this year.
Will the silica gel taint the beans in anyway?

[zazen999]

No, it won't. It's fine. It is in the packets anyway - don't take it out!