Green bean harvest

The Jade variety of pole beans has been a reliable favorite since I started growing heirloom vegetables from seed. I almost forgot that I planted these along part of one of the morning glory trellises. The morning glories have been so abundant, the beans were easy to miss.

So while I was actually supposed to be planning my fall classes today, I decided instead that these beans needed to be harvested while they were in peak form. In Scarlett procrastinator fashion, I can think about my classes tomorrow.

I had enough that probably could have been worth breaking out the water bath canner, but freezing is so much easier. Plus green beans are better frozen than canned.

Trim the ends

Blanch them in batches

Three minutes will do!

Right into an ice bath to stop the cooking

After setting the beans on a towel to dry, the best way to freeze them is to first set them on cookie sheets in the freezer. This allows each bean to freeze individually vs. having a bit clump of frozen beans in the bags.

After a few hours, bag them up, suck out the air with a straw, and don’t forget to label the bags!

We also had a bunch of beans still on the plants in a different bed. these ones were a tricolor purple-yellow-green bean that I got for free from a grange seed giveaway event we held last spring. Interestingly, when you cook the purples, they turn green, which is always a little sad, because I love that purple color. Most of these beans are a bit past their prime so they would not be great candidates for freezing. But I bagged them up for a stir fry later this week along with some pea pods I also harvested.

Harvest still life