Over plump french beans

[reetnproper]

Morning all,

I've just done a stint in the school veg patch, harvesting some of the produce for the children to sell to parents tonight and despite no-one from the gardening club being able to access the plot over summer the veg has, on the whole, looked after itself .

However, the french beans are a little on the plump size and I was wondering if these would be edible OR if, like runners, they would become stringy and, therefore, not pleasant to eat?

We tend to pick ours tender and I've never let any get to the size these have reached .

I was thinking that if these are too far gone (the beans inside must be the size of the 'seeds' in a packet) I would suggest that the children dry the beans for use in their garden next season but I'm not over sure how to dry the beans.

So 2 questions:

1) Are the beans to likely still be edible; or
2) If necessary, how do you dry beans to use as seed next year?

Many thanks
Reet
x

[esrikandan]

Pod the beans and use them like Haricot?

[chris]

Drying them, I believe you just leave ont he plant until the pod is dry and papery (I did this with mangetout)... or if you can't get it completely dry, when it's leathery you can take off and dry indoors (although from reading about bean drying on here they don't always keep as well!)

[Two_Sheds]

the french beans are a little on the plump size

That is exactly how I like them: shelly beans (discard the pod). Boil the beans for 10 mins, then use as you would any other kidney bean (for that is what they is).