Hi,

We have another glut of runner beans. I find that when cooked after
freezing they become rubbery and not so nice. Does anyone know of a better
way of preserving them. Thankyou. I live in the UK

We enjoy a good feast of them while they are in season, give the overflow
to friends.
We don't enjoy the bean after freezing.
qahtan, Niagara Peninsula. Canada



"May" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> We have another glut of runner beans. I find that when cooked after
> freezing they become rubbery and not so nice. Does anyone know of a better
> way of preserving them. Thankyou. I live in the UK
>
>

We enjoy a good feast of them while they are in season, give the overflow
to friends.
We don't enjoy the bean after freezing.
qahtan, Niagara Peninsula. Canada



"May" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> We have another glut of runner beans. I find that when cooked after
> freezing they become rubbery and not so nice. Does anyone know of a better
> way of preserving them. Thankyou. I live in the UK
>
>

May wrote:
> Hi,
>
> We have another glut of runner beans. I find that when cooked after
> freezing they become rubbery and not so nice. Does anyone know of a better
> way of preserving them. Thankyou. I live in the UK
>
>


The can very well, but you'd need to use a pressure canner (maybe you
call them "autoclaves" over there) and I gather that they (and
appropriate jars and lids) are rare anywhere except North America.

You might try picking some of them small and pickling them, or share
with your friends and neighbors.

You can also let them mature on the vines and shell them for fresh shell
beans or dried beans.

Best regards,
Bob

May wrote:
> Hi,
>
> We have another glut of runner beans. I find that when cooked after
> freezing they become rubbery and not so nice. Does anyone know of a better
> way of preserving them. Thankyou. I live in the UK
>
>


The can very well, but you'd need to use a pressure canner (maybe you
call them "autoclaves" over there) and I gather that they (and
appropriate jars and lids) are rare anywhere except North America.

You might try picking some of them small and pickling them, or share
with your friends and neighbors.

You can also let them mature on the vines and shell them for fresh shell
beans or dried beans.

Best regards,
Bob

Thanks for the advice.



"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
> May wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > We have another glut of runner beans. I find that when cooked after
> > freezing they become rubbery and not so nice. Does anyone know of a
better
> > way of preserving them. Thankyou. I live in the UK
> >
> >
>
>
> The can very well, but you'd need to use a pressure canner (maybe you
> call them "autoclaves" over there) and I gather that they (and
> appropriate jars and lids) are rare anywhere except North America.
>
> You might try picking some of them small and pickling them, or share
> with your friends and neighbors.
>
> You can also let them mature on the vines and shell them for fresh shell
> beans or dried beans.
>
> Best regards,
> Bob

Thanks for the advice.



"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
> May wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > We have another glut of runner beans. I find that when cooked after
> > freezing they become rubbery and not so nice. Does anyone know of a
better
> > way of preserving them. Thankyou. I live in the UK
> >
> >
>
>
> The can very well, but you'd need to use a pressure canner (maybe you
> call them "autoclaves" over there) and I gather that they (and
> appropriate jars and lids) are rare anywhere except North America.
>
> You might try picking some of them small and pickling them, or share
> with your friends and neighbors.
>
> You can also let them mature on the vines and shell them for fresh shell
> beans or dried beans.
>
> Best regards,
> Bob

Thanks for the advice.



"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
> May wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > We have another glut of runner beans. I find that when cooked after
> > freezing they become rubbery and not so nice. Does anyone know of a
better
> > way of preserving them. Thankyou. I live in the UK
> >
> >
>
>
> The can very well, but you'd need to use a pressure canner (maybe you
> call them "autoclaves" over there) and I gather that they (and
> appropriate jars and lids) are rare anywhere except North America.
>
> You might try picking some of them small and pickling them, or share
> with your friends and neighbors.
>
> You can also let them mature on the vines and shell them for fresh shell
> beans or dried beans.
>
> Best regards,
> Bob

Yes - preserve your surplus beans with salt - it's cheap, they keep and in my opinion are at least as delicious as fresh beans (if not better, because you are probably going to eat them out of season) and easily out-class frozen beans for texture and flavour.

You will need clean glass jars with tight-fitting lids (they don't have to be special Kilner or preserving jars, which are quite expensive) i.e. empty jam or peanut butter jars are ideal, and you will need salt (iodized or sea-salt). That's all you need (even sealable plastic food storage utensils are fine).

Wash then top and tail your freshly-picked runner beans and slice them into small pieces no larger than say 2 inches by half an inch.

Now fill your jars in layers: One inch of sliced beans then half an inch of salt, beans then salt and so on until your jar is full to within an inch of the brim.

After 20 minutes you will find that the salt has drawn water from the beans and that your beans are now being preserved in brine. Tap the jar to dislodge any large air bubbles, and top up with beans or salt so that before you seal the jar, all beans are immersed in the brine, add more salt if necessary to achieve this.

Once your jar is full, (you should still be able to see a little undissolved salt amongst the beans) seal the jar with a plastic lid or else use 2 layers of cling film to seal it before capping if the lid is metallic. Your beans are now preserved ready for labelling and storage, ideally in a cool dark place such as a pantry.

Before cooking, simply rinse the beans twice in a colander or sieve to remove excess salt - then enjoy the best runner beans you've ever tasted!

Regards - Neal.

PS: (Also see: http://www.motherearthnews.com/libra...lf_Sufficiency)

npbamboo > wrote:

>
>May Wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> We have another glut of runner beans. I find that when cooked after
>> freezing they become rubbery and not so nice. Does anyone know of a
>> better
>> way of preserving them. Thankyou. I live in the UK
>
>
>Yes - preserve your surplus beans with salt - it's cheap, they keep and
>in my opinion are at least as delicious as fresh beans (if not better,
>because you are probably going to eat them out of season) and easily
>out-class frozen beans for texture and flavour.
>
>You will need clean glass jars with tight-fitting lids (they don't have
>to be special Kilner or preserving jars, which are quite expensive) i.e.
>empty jam or peanut butter jars are ideal, and you will need salt
>(iodized or sea-salt). That's all you need (even sealable plastic food
>storage utensils are fine).
>
>Wash then top and tail your freshly-picked runner beans and slice them
>into small pieces no larger than say 2 inches by half an inch.
>
>Now fill your jars in layers: One inch of sliced beans then half an
>inch of salt, beans then salt and so on until your jar is full to
>within an inch of the brim.
>
>After 20 minutes you will find that the salt has drawn water from the
>beans and that your beans are now being preserved in brine. Tap the
>jar to dislodge any large air bubbles, and top up with beans or salt so
>that before you seal the jar, all beans are immersed in the brine, add
>more salt if necessary to achieve this.
>
>Once your jar is full, (you should still be able to see a little
>undissolved salt amongst the beans) seal the jar with a plastic lid or
>else use 2 layers of cling film to seal it before capping if the lid is
>metallic. Your beans are now preserved ready for labelling and storage,
>ideally in a cool dark place such as a pantry.
>
>Before cooking, simply rinse the beans twice in a colander or sieve to
>remove excess salt - then enjoy the best runner beans you've ever
>tasted!
>
>Regards - Neal.
>
>PS: (Also see: http://tinyurl.com/88q3l)

Your link didn't work for me so, I went directly to
http://www.motherearthnews.com/libra...lf_Sufficiency
and here's a quote from the article:

"When you want runner beans, some time in the winter when the weather
is foul and you don't feel like going out into the snow to pick
Brussels sprouts, pull a handful out of the salt, wash under the tap
for an hour and then boil".

Wash under the tap for an hour? The writer was obviously not on a slow
recovery well on his self sufficient farm.
Also, worthy of note, the article in question is over 30 years old and
many of the food preservation recommendations it contains are very
outdated.
I'll pass.

Ross
To email, remove the "obvious" from my address.

[quote=RR]npbamboo wrote:
[color=blue][i]

Ross Wrote:

Your link didn't work for me so, I went directly to
http://www.motherearthnews.com/libra...lf_Sufficiency
and here's a quote from the article:

"When you want runner beans, some time in the winter when the weather
is foul and you don't feel like going out into the snow to pick
Brussels sprouts, pull a handful out of the salt, wash under the tap
for an hour and then boil".

Wash under the tap for an hour? The writer was obviously not on a slow
recovery well on his self sufficient farm.
Also, worthy of note, the article in question is over 30 years old and
many of the food preservation recommendations it contains are very
outdated.
I'll pass.



Hi Ross,

I didn't expect a reply so soon - thank you! Your well sounds interesting! I think an hours rinsing is OTT to rinse off the excess salt before cooking the beans, especially if you have a limited water supply (it would also be a shame to unnecessarily wash away flavours, vitamins and other nutrients), but I'm also well over 30 years old, maybe I'm outdated too. All I know is that food tasted 10 times better when I was growing up than it does today, perhaps it's just my old tongue or maybe we should consider using the techniques our forbears used if they worked - not everything that's new is progressive!

Respectfully yours, Neal.