Runner or Kidney?

[Bigmallly]

Was reading one of a Grapes' posts who referred to Scarlet Emperor as a kidney bean. I've always called them a runner bean............Are they the same thing?

[veggiechicken]

My Mother calls runner beans, kidney beans not that that proves anything. She only knows 2 sorts of beans - kidney and H31nz
Hope this wasn't a serious question

[Richard Eldritch]

No idea! I'm doing White lady ( delicious and beautiful) as usual and Enorma as an experiment. Anyone grown this? do they taste nice?

[Nicos]

Hmmm...I've done a bit of goooogling for you ....
Scarlet Emporer...
Phaseolus coccineus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apparently it IS a runner bean.
What I did find was this...."Runner beans do contain lectin, which is poisonous, and so should be cooked before being consumed"
What Is a Runner Bean? (with picture)


Kidney beans are different...
Kidney bean - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think of runner beans as having flat,toughish pods with wrinkles on them ( when grown to full length)
and kidney beans as the red ones you put in chilli con carne!

I grow mostly French beans but I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between a purple haricot bean and a chilli bean out of their pods!!

It's all rather confusing isn't it?? Maybe we'll have a chuckle at ourseles in years to come when we become experts in different bean varieties????

[Mikey]

That just goes to show how little I know, I've always consider a runner bean is the pod while the bean inside is a kidney bean.

Now, I grow runner beans I think as the seeds inside are multicoloured, I have no idea what variety it is as I got the seed from my father about 10 years ago and he got it from his father about 40 years ago, and how long my grandfather had it or where it came from is a mystery. When the pods go over and get stringy which can happen as they are very prolific croppers we tend to discard the pod and eat the bean remembering to save some seeds for next year.

Now this year I have left last years plants in the ground to see if they'll come again this year, as they are not annuals as I've always thought of them. i'll also start of some beans towards the end of the month. As I never normally plant out until after the 17th of May, another thing I've picked up off my father and I have no idea why I do that either!!!!

[Thelma Sanders]

My Mother calls runner beans, kidney beans not that that proves anything

My dad always grew runner beans called Czar for the white 'kidney beans' he dried from them

Perhaps it's an age/generation thing?

[Bren In Pots]

I grow Scarlet Emperor and towards the end of the season I let them get big so I can save some for next years seeds and the rest go in a chilli.

[Two_Sheds]

H ."Runner beans do contain lectin, which is poisonous, and so should be cooked before being consumed"

I've been scorned for saying that, for years

Kidney bean isn't a particular variety, it's just a common name for any kidney shaped bean, which could be white, red or even black.

Most people have only met the red kidney bean in chilli.

[Bigmallly]

Thanks for the replies, I did do some extensive goggling before posting the thread but just wondered what other grapes thought.

[Scarlet]

Apparently it IS a runner bean.
What I did find was this...."Runner beans do contain lectin, which is poisonous, and so should be cooked before being consumed"
p

My cousin got admitted to hospital with food poisoning. She ate most of the beans that she was preparing for the freezer!!

[Alison]

I always thought that kidney beans were just the swollen beans from the runner bean pod but that could be something I mis-learnt from my granddad.

[mothhawk]

I've always called Scarlet Emperor a runner bean, so I'm pleased to find out that kidney beans ARE a different variety, especially because I hate that sort of bean (it's so fiddly to pick them all out of chilli con carne - why call it con carne then shove beans in it? Chilli with meat should be chilli with MEAT!)
But I digress. My sister, (who has lived in the U.S. so long she barely remembers that you should say harf, not haff), calls runner beans pole beans or vine beans, which confuses me even more