Pole beans are one of those crops that go from flowers to fruit in about a day. On Monday, you can look at the plants and find zero beans at all, and then on Tuesday, there will be approximately 43 million. The vexing thing about beans is that they need to be harvested regularly, or they’ll stop fruiting ; so you’ll have a lot all at once, and across a long season. They’re good do-ers, as the old-timers say!
I personally love pole beans best when picked young and tender, then blistered in bacon fat or olive oil with plenty of salt and pepper. However, one can only eat so many beans prepared this way; eventually something new will be most welcome. We had such a great response to zucchini recipes that I thought we could do the same with string beans. What are your favorite recipes?
To start things off, here’s one of our family’s favorites that incorporates green beans (and other summer fruits) - Garlic Lime Steak and Noodle Salad from Smitten Kitchen. (Deb Perelman from SK also has a great many fabulous zucchini recipes, by the way.)
‘Rattlesnake’ is my go-to variety of pole bean; I’ve tried others, but I always come back to this one. Along with being delicious, they have beautiful flowers and interesting speckled bean pods, and they are very prolific. They can also be used as dried beans later in the season, when you’re sick of eating them fresh.
Happily, it’s also blueberry season. Despite having eight bushes, we never get enough at once to make a pie or anything substantial, but we like to pick them every couple of days and eat them as a sweet finish to a meal. If we do get a bumper crop, I like to either make clafoutis or cobbler, or freeze them for later use in the winter.
Please share your favorite bean or blueberry recipes in the comments!
