I planted scarlet runner beans on the guy wire of the hoop house to remind me not to run into it. I have a thing for being able to eat what I plant and I heard that the scarlet runner bean would not only climb and identify the wire but that it was both attractive and edible. So now that it is producing, I decided I should learn about it. |
Not only are the scarlet runner beans edible, but the starchy roots, young leaves and even the flowers are edible. Some people even eat the immature pods raw before beans develop but it is safer to cook them. Like most beans, scarlet runner beans contains small amounts of lectin phytohaemagglutinin which can be toxic in large amounts. Dried beans need to be soaked and then cooked a long time to eliminate the risk. The older (harder, dryer) any bean is, the longer the cooking time required. |
My beans are forming pods. To keep them blooming and prettier, I should be deadheading the flowers. But, since I like edible landscaping, even though the flowers are edible, I think I’d be more apt to eat the beans than the flowers. One site suggested eating them as “haricots vert.” I had no idea what that was…maybe some French recipe. I looked it up. “Haricots vert” is “the unripe fruit and protective pods of various cultivars of the common bean.” In other words, it’s the proper term for green beans (aka string beans, or snap beans), who knew? |