Really tough French beans

[pantalonmagique]

i’ve not been able to make it my allotment for a while and, due to my neglect, and the hot weather, lots of my French beans have become big and tough with big beans inside them. They’re lovely and shiny like black beans. Can I dry them and use them in the same way? Or any other tips? I can dry a few for planting next year too but don’t really want to waste the rest.

You can let them dry and use them like other dry beans. Pick them all to encourage the plant to flower, if it hasn’t dried up too much.

If they aren't a hybrid bean, you could also save the seed for next year. Hopefully more water and future beans, if picked earlier, will be edible.

Just make sure you soak them and boil them for a long time. I gave me and DP a really bad 24 hours of D&V from improperly cooked french beans from our allotment, which was really hard work as we only have one toilet!

Oh wow, @Fibrous! That sounds awful. I guess if I treat them like kidney beans I should be fine. Thanks for the warning. And thanks @JDM625and @Ifailedi think if I pick them all off and keep up the watering I should get a nice new crop. They’re not hybrids so I think they should be good for next year.

yep think it's the same toxin as in kidney beans. I, unfortunately, treated them like broad beans which was what they asked for in the recipe I was cooking. Big mistake!