Grow Your Own Green Beans
Catherine Olivia
There's nothing quite like the pleasure of growing, harvesting
and eating your own vegetables. Absolutely nothing can be
fresher than vegetables that you grow yourself. My family
always had a small garden and we grew tomatoes and peppers,
some lettuce and eggplant. This year we added green beans to
our list of vegetables. My husband and I love them and I found
them a "snap" to grow, freeze and cook.
We decided on a pole variety of green beans for our garden.
Pole green bean varieties produce for a longer season than do
bush varieties. We grew the variety of pole beans called
Kentucky Wonder. It was our first year and we were pleased with
the amount of harvest that we had from this particular bean. I
think that next year we'll try a colored bean, but I wanted to
grow Kentucky Wonder this year as they remind me of fresh green
beans we had as kids. All colored green beans, ones that are
gold or yellow or purple, have the same taste as green beans.
When we harvested the beans I froze what I couldn't cook within
a few days. I found that freezing worked well for me. It was
easy as all it required was a pot to boil water, a bowl of ice
water and freezer bags. We have quite a few string beans in the
freezer now, more than enough to last us through for several
months. Perhaps next year I'll consider canning them. Where
frozen green beans are good up to 18 months some experts say
that properly canned green beans last up to five years (due to
the fact that they are low-acid) although I don't think I'd
want to eat them if they're that old. Canning is relatively
simple but requires a lot more equipment than freezing does.
Of course the best thing about growing your own green beans is
eating them. My husband's favorite green bean recipe is very
simple, they're boiled in chicken stock. Boiled, boiled and
boiled. Most "gourmets" will tell you not to overcook green
beans. This recipe simmers the beans for at least 45 minutes. I
drain them add butter, salt and pepper to taste. I don't think
that I'll be using any of my frozen green beans in the
Thanksgiving green bean casserole though. Store bought canned
or frozen string beans work just fine in that recipe. I'll save
my home grown green beans for recipes where they'll really shine
through.
About The Author: To learn more about growing green beans
please visit
http://www.greenbeansnmore.com
See Also:
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