Different types of green beans

[seedcorn]

looking at magazine-while trying not to drool-what is different about a French filet and a regular bush green bean?

What variety of green beans do you like and why? Been using tenderrette because of slow seed development.

 

[flowerbug]

longer and skinnier bean pods.

in my experience harder to get seeds from the fillet types here, but i've only grown a few so far.

i've given up on them after wasting too much space when i can get a lot more production from the wax beans i usually grow (Top Notch and now some crosses).

i have a new bush bean for next year to try out called Purple Dove, i liked eating them fresh so next season i will see how they cook up. the only problem with them is that they are Japanese Beetle magnets.

i have some seeds if you want to try them out yourself (send a PM with your address). i'll be happy to send you a few dozen.

 

[digitS']

We need @aftermidnight on this one.

I grew up eating Kentucky Wonder and have ventured out some both on the vine and the bush.

DW rather quickly shakes me back down to earth for a very conventionally flavored variety. If I do any moaning about that, it's "tough beans" from her ...

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

My wife really likes the flavor of Blue Lake pole beans. Need I say more?

I used to grow Blue Lake bush as an early bean as poles take longer to produce. That way I have something fresh to start eating off of earlier. Flavor is different from the pole version but they seemed to hold a bit longer on the vine before they developed too much to be tender. But I've switched over to Bluejay bush. I tried them out of curiosity, the guy that runs the bean network thread on here developed them. They are productive, they tend to hold quality on the plant pretty well, and I think the flavor is good.

 

[seedcorn]

Thanks for comments as I’m not a green bean connoisseur. All taste the same to me unless stringy and fiberous.

 

[Just-Moxie]

My neighbor gave me some Roma seeds back in 2011. I planted them. they grew very well, and tasted even better. No strings to mess with either.

 

[aftermidnight]

If you want to talk the differences in beans @Zeedman is the one to ask.
I've been growing mostly heirlooms. Yes there is quite a difference in the taste of many of the varieties. Take Tobacco Worm for instance a favorite of many has a strong beany flavor that for me I had to acquire a taste.
Then I was introduced to full beans, these you let the beans fill the pods before picking e.g. Tennessee Cutshort, absolutely delicious. There are many more varieties you can eat this way, the pods stay tender even at this stage.
Annette

 

[digitS']

You might want to plant Jade bush bean, Seed'.

For me, its most outstanding characteristic is that it's very productive. Must have misspell "very" because spellcheck changed it to "over" productive . That's not the impression of the variety that I want to give . It's a very nice, tender green bean.

I grow Rattlesnake pole every year for about ten. I can tuck the teepees away in a corner. I kinda wish that they were better as a snap bean but they sure aren't bad! Where they are really good is as a winter soup bean. So ... multipurpose!

Steve

 

[Zeedman]

If you want to talk the differences in beans @Zeedman is the one to ask.
I've been growing mostly heirlooms. Yes there is quite a difference in the taste of many of the varieties. Take Tobacco Worm for instance a favorite of many has a strong beany flavor that for me I had to acquire a taste.
Then I was introduced to full beans, these you let the beans fill the pods before picking e.g. Tennessee Cutshort, absolutely delicious. There are many more varieties you can eat this way, the pods stay tender even at this stage.
Annette

Annette, I think you've grown & tested more varieties than I have... all the more remarkable given your climate.

longer and skinnier bean pods.

in my experience harder to get seeds from the fillet types here, but i've only grown a few so far.

Agreed. The filet types have long, straight, round, very slender pods when young. They are very slow to develop seed - which is one of their best traits, since they remain tender even large & have a longer harvest window than most snap beans. Two of the pole filet beans (Emerite & Fortex) are some of my favorites, because they are stringless & have very high quality when frozen. There are several bush filet varieties also, which I have never grown. Vermont Bean carries a wide selection of filet beans (bush and pole) including a bush wax fillet bean, Soleil, which I intend to try.

The pole Emerite, IMO, is one of the best beans for canning. I grew it this year for freezing, for making canned dilly beans (which turned out really well) and to renew my seed. It has outstanding cool-soil germination, and produces a heavy crop here even planted as late as July 4th. Yes, they took a very long time to go from snap to seed. I was still picking some dry & near-dry pods just before frost... but the seed yield is high. I ended up with over 3# of dry seed, enough to grow & share for 7-8 years.

As @aftermidnight mentioned, the classification of snap beans can be a little complicated. You could classify by pod shape (round, semi-flattened, Romano); pod color (green, purple, wax); stringless or stringed, etc. Appalachian beans include additional categories; crease back, greasy, half-runner, and the "full" beans mentioned above... it's a pity that Bill Best (or Dar Jones, who posts on other garden forums) isn't here to comment on those. It's enough to make your head spin.

Personally, I tend to categorize snap beans as round pod (which includes the filet types), Kentucky Wonder types (with flattened or squarish pods), and flat Romano types. The round-podded varieties that I've grown tend to be sweeter, often stringless, and are some of the firmest for canning. The KY Wonder types are stronger flavored, and tend to have a shorter harvest window; but they can also be incredibly productive. The Romano types are some of the earliest pole varieties (such as Early Riser and Goldmarie), and many have a unique sweet pea/bean flavor. Two Romano-type pole beans I've grown (Champagne and the purple-podded Czechoslovakian) were notably more productive in heat than other beans grown the same year. Some of the flat-podded beans (such as Bosnian Pole) are also dual-purpose, being good as either snaps or shellies.

Then too, there are runner bean snaps. Those are best suited to cool climates, where common beans struggle.

I try to grow at least one variety of each of those three types each year, and at least one wax type. Like Russ and Annette, most of the varieties I grow are heirlooms. The wide variation in flavor, texture, and usage is what makes beans so much fun to grow, especially given the lack of diversity (except for dry beans) sold commercially. I'd be happy to send a sampler of varieties for trial.

Oh fudge... started looking at Vermont Bean's online catalog because of this thread, now I'll have to order a few.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I like some mentioned here, Blue Lake, Kentucky Wonder and Jade is my favorite and also DS. When DS was younger he loved canned green beans and only one brand, Western Family. He could tell a different brand. I am not sure if it was because he got older or there is a difference, but I started growing Cobra pole beans from Park Seed and he really likes them. I can get more with pole beans than I can with bush and easier to pick for me. They are tender, grow very long and just very, very productive. Maybe they are like the bush bean Jade. The picture is of Cobra pole beans.