2024 Little Easy Bean Network - Growing Heirloom Beans Of Today And Tomorrow

[flowerbug]

...
Kermit’s Smoky Mountain looks quite healthy but isn’t vigorous. It’s barely got to five feet in height and although it has lots of flower buds, it isn’t even in full flower yet. I doubt it will produce seed in time, even though sown in modules reasonably early (15th May). I think it’s just too late for the length of season here.

i had a reasonable crop from that one but it did run long for me too. it did easily top our 7ft fence, but i suspect we have a lot more sunshine and heat for our summers than you get there. i've not grown it other than that one season.

 

[Blue-Jay]

In 2012 I had gone to the Seed Savers Exchange Conference in Decorah, Iowa. 2012 was a nasty drought year here and over a large area of the country around. We had listened to a presentation of a plant breeder. He was talking about how sometimes a tough year can show you which are the better plants to save seed from. He decided that the group should go out into SSE's field of cabbage and see what was going on there. When we got there we took a look at the field of cabbages and the plant breeder said to the group what do you see. I quickly chimed in and said you see some cabbages with leaves stretched wide open and then some are having a better time forming a head. He said that's correct those that are having a better time forming heads are probably the ones you should be saving seed from. Somtimes the breeder stated that a bad weather year can be a blessing in disguise. It could be nature's way of culling out the bad or weak genes.

 

[Branching Out]

Definitely wouldn't want to steam shellies as they would still be really firm. I love to steam fresh beans and especially noodle beans but I'm a bit of an oddball in my family. Beans are usually put in a pot with a bit of water and simmered until tender. The few shellies that are in there are tender too. Of course these are generally the cutshort beans.

I've lived in rural West Virginia my entire life and honestly the only beans we've ever cooked as shellies have been lima beans. Honestly didn't realize people ate them as shellies until I really started researching beans a few years ago. I grew a Romano trial bean this year that would be perfect as shellies because the flavor was great, but the pods were inedible on everything but the youngest beans. I know 4-5 year-old me would have loved shellies as I pulled the beans out of the peelings (hulls) and refused to eat them.

I too am new to the concept of 'shellies'. This year I am growing Cocaigne bush dry shelly beans and am unclear on how to prepare them (also my yield is rather small, so I don't want to mess it up). The descriptions suggest that they are a rare gastronimical treat. You shell them first and then cook them, right? Does anyone ever cook them in water while they are still in their pods?

This article made for an intriguing read: https://www.thebutterlab.com/blog/freshshellbeans

 

[flowerbug]

I too am new to the concept of 'shellies'. This year I am growing Cocaigne bush dry shelly beans and am unclear on how to prepare them (also my yield is rather small, so I don't want to mess it up). The descriptions suggest that they are a rare gastronimical treat. You shell them first and then cook them, right?

yes. harvest is when they are fully developed but not dried down yet. varies a bit by variety as to when it is peak time to pick, but for me the first shellies were the lima beans. loved those as shellies. then i expanded my trials and found that pretty much any bean that is edible will be good as a shelly bean.

Does anyone ever cook them in water while they are still in their pods?

no, edamame are the only ones i've done that with aside from the other beans that i would just cook and eat whole anyways and the few greasy beans as mentioned upthread (elsethread?)...

This article made for an intriguing read: https://www.thebutterlab.com/blog/freshshellbeans

i'm also in love with beans and cooking them and using them in various ways.

 

[Decoy1]

yes. harvest is when they are fully developed but not dried down yet. varies a bit by variety as to when it is peak time to pick, but for me the first shellies were the lima beans. loved those as shellies. then i expanded my trials and found that pretty much any bean that is edible will be good as a shelly

Some are very difficult to pod though until they are fully dry, by which time they are harvestable for seed. Trial and error will suggest which varieties are good for shellies and they’re usually ones with visibly plump beans showing when the pods are just beginning to lose their full greenness.

I very much like to cook in water a mix of snap beans and shelled beans for quite a short time, maybe eight minutes. I suppose the mixture of flavours and textures is a little like you get from eating some greasy or varieties, but perhaps less chewy. It varies so much from variety to variety which is why beans are so amazing and cooking them is always a bit of an exploration!

 

[flowerbug]

Some are very difficult to pod though until they are fully dry, by which time they are harvestable for seed. Trial and error will suggest which varieties are good for shellies and they’re usually ones with visibly plump beans showing when the pods are just beginning to lose their full greenness.

it is interesting how different each variety can be for shelling. some beans come out of the pods easy and others are a PITA (Venda is much easier to shell before it gets fully dried down, Purple Dove is much easier to shell when fully dried and not too bad when at shelly stage but before then they are too juicy to shell, etc.). the large plump Cranberry types (aka often called horticultural beans) are beautiful to see. then there are the color changes which also happen.

I very much like to cook in water a mix of snap beans and shelled beans for quite a short time, maybe eight minutes. I suppose the mixture of flavours and textures is a little like you get from eating some greasy or varieties, but perhaps less chewy. It varies so much from variety to variety which is why beans are so amazing and cooking them is always a bit of an exploration!

there is a possible issue with eating too many raw beans with seeds (the lectin is a toxin and needs to cook for a certain period of time to neutralize it).

 

[Blue-Jay]

Summer Bean Show 2024 Vol. #23

Lovely Limas. I wouldn't mind growing any of them if they would grow here. Bean 70 what
color would you call that ?


Bean 63.............................................................Bean 64


Bean 65.............................................................Bean 68


Bean 69.............................................................Bean 70

 

[Blue-Jay]

Zeedman from Wisconsin has been very quiet this year. I hope he is in good health.

 

[heirloomgal]

@Blue-Jay I shelled my first big lot of the network bean Trevio Nun this evening. Oh my gosh, what a sublime bean! And to think now I had debated if I should pick it or something else! I made the right choice, it’s bodacious. Big pods, big marble beans. And I also shelled out a network bean with a name with the words Mala Zelena in it [can’t remember it all at the moment] another wonderful, highly productive, superlative quality bean. Very nice seeds formed, and that bean is very early to boot. I’m just so happy with the network beans I picked this year. The Blue Tip bean seeds I shelled tonight turned out wonderfully as well. Will post pics soon. I felt real concern about what the bean harvest would be like this year, but so far it has been much better than expected. Lots of network Champagne bean pods are drying off the vine under cover now, I peeked in a few pods, and they look really good too. I think @Zeedman once mentioned that he has not had an easy time getting seeds from that variety, so I wondered what these would be like. So far so good.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Blue-Jay I shelled my first big lot of the network bean Trevio Nun this evening. Oh my gosh, what a sublime bean!

And I also shelled out a network bean with a name with the words Mala Zelena in it [can’t remember it all at the moment] another wonderful, highly productive, superlative quality bean.

Champagne bean pods are drying off the vine under cover now, I peeked in a few pods, and they look really good too. I think @Zeedman once mentioned that he has not had an easy time getting seeds from that variety, so I wondered what these would be like. So far so good.

Were the Trevio Nun beans you harvested larger than what I had sent? The young woman who sent me this bean has a website called Tomato Eden. She had bought just huge amounts of beans from me for a couple of years and listed them on her website at one time. Now she only lists Tomatoes, Peppers, and melons. She is from Latvia I believe.

The Mala Zelena is a bush bean and the seeds look light yellow with a little bit of a black I ring. It looks to me to me another strain of sulphur bean. This bean came from a fellow in the Czech Republic.

In regards to the bean Champagne. It is really productive of green snap pods. When drying for seed I found the same thing that Zeedman had discovered. I sorted out at least half the seed it produced. Many of the seeds were oddly shaped and I wouldn't send out seed that looked like that. So I rejected them. I did use them in cooking up my chicken and bean stew.

I'm so glad you are getting nice seed crops in spite of your season. It's so disheartening when one puts in so much work just to have the weather spoil the season. I definitely know that bummed out bean season feeling.