A (Purple) Green Bean Worth Saving

Last Spring, I picked up a bean seed on a whim.  Thinking I wouldn’t have enough seeds to fill my bean beds, I picked up a packet of “Royal Burgundy Bush Bean” seeds from High Mowing Seeds at the local co-op.

The plants seemed more of a climber than a bush bean, so I had to quickly put in a trellis system and train the beans up it.  Unless I picked the beans very early, they tended to be pretty tough.  The plants were beautiful, but I wasn’t planning to try this bean variety again next year.

Then I tried freezing them.

Beans cannot be canned in a water bath canner because of their low acidity.  They must be processed in a pressure cooker.  And I wasn’t ready to go there last year.  So I chose to freeze them.

I didn’t like the beans that I had frozen last year.  They were limp and chewy.

These beans seem like they’ll hold up to freezing. Once thawed, the beans can be quickly steamed and served.

I think that these would even be nice cooked the way my mother did.  She cooked bacon and removed it from the pan, then fried diced onions in the bacon fat.  She drained off the excess bacon grease, added green beans to the onions, and crumbled the bacon into the beans.  Once the beans were warm, she salt and peppered and served them.

These beans just may stand up to the test.

And I plan to save the seeds from these interesting beans, a really easy thing to do with bean seeds.  I’ll leave them on the bush until the pods dry, them bring them in to dry further.

To freeze beans, I trim them and blanch them REALLY quickly by the handful.  Then I transfer them to a bowl of ice water until all the beans have been blanched.  I drain them and spread them on a towel to dry.  Once dry, I spread them on a cookie sheet and place it in the freezer.  Once frozen, I vacuum seal them in serving size bags.
To try some "Royal Burgundy Bush Beans" for yourself, check out High Mowing's site at http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-royal-burgundy-bean.html.