Vegetable of the year!

The Borlotti Bean

This was the first year that I tried Borlotti Beans and they have been a huge success. Mine are climbing bean Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco (Firetongue) and were from Thompson and Morgan. The seeds germinated brilliantly and grew strongly (a bit too strongly if I'm being honest, the cherry tree next to the veg bed is adorned with red pods too), and the harvest is impressive.

The pods start out green and as they mature they turn streaky red. At about this stage we were eating them like runner beans, sliced and delicious.

Once they got to this colour, the pods were a little tough and the beans were swelling so I shelled the beans and we ate them fresh (like flageolet beans).

I ate most of the fresh beans above like sweets!

Now the leaves are dying, the pods are dry and purply, and the beans are creamy and streaked with red. It's time to dry them for the winter.

To dry the beans for storage the recommendation is to pick the pods and dry out whole until the beans rattle in the pods, then shell them and continue to dry the beans.

 I have started to pick my pods as they are unlikely to dry out any more on the vine - it's too damp and autumnal now and it would be disappointing if they rotted. However I am having to harvest in stages because there are so many of them and we might disappear under a sea of red pods!

Apparently they should be hard enough to bite or press your nail into and leave no mark (that's hard!) then you can store them in jars indefinitely.

Or alternatively you can freeze them from fresh, then they only need 10 mins cooking.

Now to look for some recipes!

This was by far my most rewarding and successful vegetable this year. It survived the drought with minimal watering and performed very well. The french beans were good too, but the courgettes were awful, the lettuces abysmal, my one spring onion was very lonely and my carrots non existent. My beetroot was ok and my potatoes were passable but the Borlottis have saved my gardeners' pride and will hopefully last through the winter.

If you have any suggestions for recipes for my harvest please share them, I find the best recipes always come from personal recommendations.