runner bean - hard cases!

[Madame Mucksprout]

Hello

ive been growing few runer bean plants which have done brilliantly (I think) well.

The last couple of meals I have used them in, some of them have got a hard, strawey casing on them. when you bite in andfind it is very fiberous.
I dont think the beans Im using are particually big? so wh has this started to happen?

How big should you let runner beans get before they are too big (if this is the problem)

Many Thanks
Westforester

[coreopsis]

I had the same last year-pod was very chewy and fibrous but the beans inside were lovely so I kept them growing until they were ready for shelling.

[Jeanied]

I think this happens when the beans get old and stringy, Westforester. Try picking them a bit smaller / younger. With the older beans (you can tell as soon as you try slicing them that they have gone all toenaily) it may be best just to pod out the beans and use them.

[Madame Mucksprout]

Hello Coreopis and Jeanied,
Thank you for replying, I think Ill try leaaving some to grow really big so I can try eating the beans inside - that will be a nice change.

And Illl try making dinner with some rally small ones to see if they are any better.

Thanks again
Westforester

[trish60]

We have had so little rain here in the last 2 months (about 5 times) so I think it is inevitable that my runner beans will be tough even though I have watered them.
Even foxgloves & hydrangeas in my garden are looking really sorry for thenselves.
The french beans have coped much better.

[littleexperience]

as is always the case with veg the smaller the better taste you tend to get i always pick my beans when they are only 5-6inch in size.

[toastie]

Have just come back from my allotment with a bag full of runner beans. Tend to pick them when they're about 6 inches long but if I can't get up the allotment at any time they'll have to be picked a bit longer. Can't remember what the variety was last year as someone gave us them but they were extremely stringy - even after preparation/cooking - so this year have gone back to White Lady which hopefully won't be stringy (as they're not supposed to be).

[valmarg]

We had quite a lot of rain last month, so our beans, even though quite large (about 12+" long) have remained tender. I think your problem Westforester will be lack of rain. Beans soon dry out and become tough.

We are growing the varieties White Lady and Red Rum.

valmarg

[armthorpe]

Run a tatty peeler or knife down each side of bean to remove any string before cooking.

[valmarg]

Run a tatty peeler or knife down each side of bean to remove any string before cooking.

Even though some seed catalogues state that beans are stringless, I always string round the edges of the beans. I know I'm old fashioned, but it gives me some idea of whether the beans are tough or not. It's not difficult to realise that some beans are 'past their best', and should go on the compost.

There is nothing worse than the taste of a dreadfully tough bean. It is vile, and can completely spoil the whole meal

valmarg

[Nicos]

There is nothing worse than the taste of a dreadfully tough bean. It is vile, and can completely spoil the whole meal

valmarg

agree!

....and for that reason I've given up on runners- and grow cimbing French stringless beans!
This is the second year we're growing purple ones. They look lovely!

[womble]

agree!

....and for that reason I've given up on runners- and grow cimbing French stringless beans!
This is the second year we're growing purple ones. They look lovely!

I always grow just one or two runner plants, it allows me to get a little difference in the beans I eat and just in case the french beans don't so very well.
Because they aren't that important to me, it enables me to pick them very small before they possibly can go tough.

The Cherokee Trail of tears flat beans, always go far more stringy than my runners. Quick string with a knife when you are taking the ends off, sorts it easily.

[armthorpe]

There is nothing worse than the taste of a dreadfully tough bean. It is vile, and can completely spoil the whole meal

Could'nt agree more but it's all down to the preparation for cooking.

When I was a kid growing up in Yorkshire mother used to buy runner beans. Pull the string off from the sides then cut the beans into 1" chunks at 45 degrees. Is it any wonder we used to call them string beans, you've never tasted owt like them ( bloody horrible).

Then I married a lass from North Devon, her family have been preparing beans for generations by cutting down both sides of the bean the slicing them like this.



Bobs your uncle stringless beans (enorma) that taste cracking.

Don't take my word for it try it yourself and see.

[dave_norm_smith]

Now thats a fine looking colander of beans! lol

It's maybe a Yorkshire thing, thats how my mum would cut them on the 45 degree. However she would then steam them in the pressure cooking to within an inch of its life meaning everything tasted of cabbage! Infact I'm not sure that I have eaten runner beans since?

I think I must of been 10 before I realized spuds weren't meant to taste of cabbage! lol She does make a hell of a stew and dumplings mind!

I may have to get some to try afterall I like every other bean.

Dave

p.s. Is Armthorpe your surname or where you grew up?

[Florence Fennel]

My mum used to string the bins on both sides and then scissor cut them diagonally. I used to do this until last year, when I took advice from on here and bought myself a cheap plastic bean shredder. It's fab, it makes the beans look posh and you only have to steam them for a couple of minutes, or blanch and freeze. Google it and have a look, or use The Excellent Search Thread on here!