T h e k it c h e n g a r d e n
Bean Season
The perfect side dish and so easy to grow
By Jan Leitschuh
Let’s talk beans. And not
the dried “beans-beans-the-musicalfruit” type legume, either. Fresh green beans, or snap beans (or haricots verts, if you want to sound suave and welltraveled) are beginning to sneak into local markets this month. And the best news — it’s not too late to plant some in your garden.
Green beans are known for their great texture and flavor. Usually picked while crisp, the pods should snap when you bend them. This crispness means the green bean is still immature, with the inner beans just beginning to form in the pod. They are typically eaten young and fresh, pod and all (versus dried and shelled from the pod). Often deep emerald green in color, but sometimes yellow-green, the slender pods come to a slight point at either end. Those are snapped off too, hence the term “snap beans.” Where would the South be without green beans as a delicious side dish? My husband was waxing nostalgic about green beans lately, remembering picking “a mess” from the family garden for dinner from long rows of low bushes. His young self would join his beloved Grandma Miller, picking the fresh slim beans into a pocket she formed by folding the hem of her apron upward, in the classic manner of garden-savvy Grandmas of yore. She taught the youngster how to pick carefully, how not to not yank and damage the bushes. The beans were tossed in a colander and rinsed, then the ends of the pods were snapped off, as mentioned earlier, then further snapped into two or three sections. Next, the snapped beans were boiled into submission, often with new potatoes and salt pork or bacon. “I didn’t like to snap them,” he recalls, “but I sure liked to eat them.” Green beans and potatoes went especially well with meatloaf, he added, rather hopefully, I thought. Green bean casserole was another Southern family staple, especially for Sunday lunch. “Green beans and Sunday dinner would kind of go together,” he added. Grandma Miller lived on long after the century mark, so the health-aware
may take heed. As I wrote on the Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative website, where we store much information about seasonal fruits and vegetables and their preparation, storage and health benefits: “In addition to conventional antioxidant nutrients like vitamin C and beta-carotene, green beans contain important amounts of the antioxidant mineral manganese. But the area of phytonutrients is where green beans really shine through in their antioxidant value. Green beans contain a wide variety of carotenoids and flavonoids that have all been shown to have health-supportive antioxidant properties.” We’ll talk about bush beans here, because Southern pole beans like half-runners are a story unto themselves. Bush beans tend not to have the “string” of stringy pole beans. Some folks say pole beans like the half-runners have an even better flavor, but again, that’s a debate for another time. There are several convenient bush varieties you can buy — ask your local seed/feed store what they prefer and what does well around here. I’ve had good luck with “Tenderette,” and bush-type “Blue Lake,” but there are bound to be other wonderful varieties out there. I speed things up by soaking in water overnight, then planting in prepared ground the next day. Just poke a hole in the dirt with your finger or a small stick, flip the bean in and cover. Simple. You don’t have to soak them, but in our drought-y sands, I find it can speed up the process and help with an even germination. You can start planting in early April if you don’t mind taking a risk on a quarter’s worth of seed. Thereafter, as long as you want beans, plant every 10 days to two weeks so that the bushes can ripen in succession. This should give you plenty for fresh table use, canning and/or freezing for that Thanksgiving green bean casserole you know your family won’t let you forget about. Because they are low bushes, no support is needed. Seed about 4-6 inches apart. You can even grow them in larger pots. I have a friend who lines his pool with 5-gallon buckets, and he plants bush green beans in many of them, trailing petunias in the rest. “I think they are heaven’s food,” my friend Steve enthuses. “They give me the excuse to put a little bacon in them. Everybody needs a little bacon now and again.” Ah, are we sensing a bacon meme here? Bacon aside, an enriched, well-worked soil adds flavor and is a bonus for growing any edible thing. Some folks prefer to hedge their bean-y bets by mixing in an inoculation of beneficial rhizobia bacteria as well. You’ve heard how beans
PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2013
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