Harvesting and podding delicious broad beans

The last few weeks, I have been happily twisting large pods off the broad bean plants. Some pods have decided to go wonky but most are surprisingly straight. Despite what everyone says about picking them teeny tiny, I do leave some of the pods until they are medium sized as I like a mix of the 'meatier' beans and the smaller sweeter ones.  

Stir-fried Runner Beans with toasted Almonds

Stir-Fry Runner Beans with sesame oil and toss with toasted almonds..

On the weekends, we often wander over to our local farm to pick up free range eggs.  Cartons of eggs are placed inside a cool box and left at the back door of the farmhouse.  It's a trust based system so we drop £2.50 into the coin jar, and help ourselves to two cardboard trays of eggs.  A dozen in total of unevenly shaped, different sized eggs laid by very happy hens that race towards us, clucking as we walk past the green pasture on which they graze.

Today, a large box filled with long, green beans sits beside the egg cartons.  Longer than the average green bean, and with a coarse outer skin that feels rough to touch, they are unfamiliar to me.  They look like wild beans that have originated from a lush, tropical rainforest, I think to myself, except that a handwritten sign on the box clearly says "homegrown runner beans - please take".  That's the beauty of living in the country, so many people grow their own vegetables and when they have a surplus, it is generously shared with anyone who wants them.  Eager to taste them, we take a few handfuls of beans and bring them home with us.

Tips for First Time broad beans growers

Broad beans (a little mature!) harvested from the garden

Broad beans are now ready to be harvested in the garden.  We grew a variety called "Aquadulce Claudia", which we sowed in Autumn (October).

If you are a first-time grower, you might be interested in these top tips for growing broad beans:

Eating freshly picked Broad Beans (and whether or not to peel them)...

Freshly picked Broad Beans

It is a special moment when you harvest your first broad beans of the summer - these ones were put into the ground months ago, back in November just before the winter set in and when the days were a little chillier than they are now.

Time to pick homegrown MangeTout (Snow Peas)!

Don't you just want to pick this Snow Pea (Mange Tout)?

There can be nothing nicer than picking your own home grown Snow Peas from the garden in the warm, summer evenings.  Before the sun sets, I race down to our vegetable patch and seek out the little pods of green that have emerged.

What is the difference between the Winged Bean and the Asparagus Pea?

Photo courtesy:  Crocus.co.uk - Asparagus Pea

Recently, I have been searching for a bean that I used to often eat in Malaysia - a bean that doesn't look like a regular bean, but has four frilly sides to it.  It is called the Winged Bean or the Four-Angled Bean.  It is a lovely, crunchy bean that is really delicious stir-fried with a spicy chilli, garlic and shrimp paste mix.

After searching for seeds online, I finally stumbled across the Asparagus Pea, which looks identical to the Winged Bean.  So, the question is - is there a difference between the Winged Bean and the Asparagus Pea?

Grow Snake Beans (Yard Long Beans) for a tasty fried bean dish!



If there was ever a bean that I could associate with Asia, it would have to be the Snake Bean.  It reminds of walking through markets in Malaysia where bundles of these incredibly long beans, each secured by a rubber band, are piled up onto market stall stands.  These beans are thought to have originated from South China and are also known as Yard Long beans, Chinese Long Beans or Asparagus Beans.

My parents grow these delightfully long beans in their backyard in Sydney, Australia and mid February we had our first harvest, which I turned into a tasty dish of "Deep fried snake beans with garlic".

Chinese style Fried Snake Beans with Garlic Recipe

 
My favourite way to cook green beans is to fry them in oil until their outer skin blisters and they turn impossibly sweet.  Snake beans are no exception and can be fried (almost deep fried) in batches.  Add some slivers of garlic and these beans really come alive.

Keep the beans long as they look lovely "snaked" around a plate, but trim them to a size manageable during the cooking process.