To think green beans are just the most revolting vegetable

[AngeloMysterioso]

They manage to be tough, stringy and weirdly spiky all the at the same time and they have the flavour of a chewed pencil. There is literally no dish I can think of that is enhanced by their presence. They’re the unpleasant bastard cousin of sugarsnap peas and mangetout.

ETA- by green beans I mean runner beans. Just in case there’s any confusion

AIBU?

@MereDintofPandiculation do you have any tips on how to avoid making mangetout stringy? I love the taste. But whether I barely cook them or cook them lots, they are always stringy!

I like hime grown runners but they tend to be dry and stringy if bought in the supermarket. I don't buy round beans for the same reason unless they are very much in season and look nice eg from the farm shop.
The only veg that I haven't warmed to is okra. Like most things this may be because of the way it has been by presented to me and as I do meal planning at home , funnily enough it is never on the menu.

I love green beans, especially home grown has a lovely flavour. Make sure to peel the edges on runner beans first & they won't be stringy

Pick them younger. Or remove the string - cut half way through one tip and gently pull the string off. Cut half way through the other tip and pull the string off the other side.

The only veg that I haven't warmed to is okra. Cook with fresh tomatoes and onions to make a sauce which disguises the slime. Try it in Indian restaurants - bhindi.

It's in the same family as marshmallow (the sweet used to be made from the plant marshmallow).

Mange tout should be picked while still flat. Sugar snap also have edible pods and can be picked when the peas have swollen.

They are more disgusting than black beans. But less disgusting than broad beans IMHO.

I think you're just not preparing them properly! Finely sliced, cooked til just tender then tossed with a little salt and butter, they're delicious!

I'm not keen on runner beans but I like green beans - they're not the same thing! There aren't a lot of vegetables I don't like though (beetroot and parsnips spring to mind).

The best thing for many veg…..and to get kids to eat them is….tempura! A light batter, fried, served with soy and garlic….maybe a bit of chilli…..heaven. Works brilliantly for runner beans or green beans 😋

Agree - runner beans are the worst closely followed by green beans. Way too many memories of eating horrible stringy ones as a child and endless picking/ slicing them

I haven't read the full thread , so apologies if thas has been suggested already . You need to put your whole swede into the microwave on a plate and cook for around 15 to 20 mins . Do not pierce it like a potato. Feel it when it's done and judge if it needs another blast . Let it cool for a few mins , slice the top of and scoop the flesh out , mix with best butter ( that's a different thread ) and salt / pepper . It's nothing like a watery boiled swede . This is sweet, tasty buttery yummy Ness. I think if you google singing swede ?? It might explain better than me

I want to be clear that I don’t do anything with green beans. I don’t grow them, I don’t buy them, I don’t cook them. I eat them only out of politeness when they are imposed upon me.

Perhaps I don’t mean runner beans then… they’re the really big versions right? I mean the ones roughly the size of a bic biro and about as appetising.

Sautéed in a frying pan (butter of course!), with plenty of garlic, lemon and salt. Wait until they wilt a bit, and they're just amazing! My kids wolf them down. There.

Celery is misery.

I don't get the Okra hate. I use it in curries and the 'slime'is a great thickening agent. We also get as a side dish from the Indian takeaway with onion and tomato. Lovely and not a hint of slime. Our local Tesco rarely has then so when they do I buy several packs and freeze them.

It will still taste like a swede. Just more so.

Each to their own, but you're objexctively wrong, a culinary deviant and should feel badly about yourself.

Extremely controversially, I don’t really like fresh green beans but tinned green beans are an integral part of my very gross guilty pleasure meal; Richmond sausages (yes, I know they’re disgusting!) mashed potato, tinned green beans, tinned sweetcorn and super thick bisto gravy.

yes I do love normal fresh veg (and proper sausages too for that matter!) but green beans in a tin are phenomenal!

Nothing's as bad as Brussels sprouts ime. Horrible, bitter things. And it's not the cooking, they're cooked by the same person who does green beans, and those are fine.

@Catsmere

roast them on a tray with olive oil -they are then the food of the Gods! Contrary to dated popular belief they don't need to be cooked for a week until they turn to grey sludge.

@AngeloMysterioso

if I never saw a green/runner bean again it would still be too soon.

Thanks for the tip, but the only cooking device I have is a microwave. I live in a retirement village where our meals are made for us, so it won't be happening. TBH the occasional godawful vegetables are worth it for the overall benefit of not having to cook! 😄

Butternut squash - might as well eat sweetish mud. And sweet potatoes, ugh.

Green beans and fennel are delicious though.

I shall wear my deviancy with pride.

I quite like runners too as long as the strings have been peeled as suggested

@Catsmere

😂😂 Fair enough, I'd tolerate some grey veg occasionally if someone was cooking for me too!

I eat salad most of the time, but love my air fryer for roasted veg!!