Dried beans have got to be one of my favorite things in the winter. I love bean soups. I love hummus made from any kind of bean. I love beans done in any Mexican fashion. Now as a garden crop they are really easy. I plant them and then just let them grow all season long until the pods are dry on the vine. But they aren't very productive. They take the bed for all season and the pounds per square foot is pretty small.
Green beans are different. I had a 5.5'x1' section of Kentucky Wonder green beans. They yielded just over two pounds of beans per square foot. Which for any gardening crop is fantastic. But my dried beans do well if they yield a third of a pound per square foot. And since I was trialing so many kinds, I don't expect to get that yield from much.
I don't start to weigh the beans until they are fully dried. Then I take a hammer out and smash a few of the beans. If they shatter they are done. If they smoosh they need more time. Then I stick them in my deep freeze for a few days. Drying them will make sure that the seed doesn't die while frozen. And freezing them makes sure any pest eggs that are on them die so my beans don't get eaten in storage.
So far I have three types that are dry enough to weigh. Cherokee Trail of Tears, Ottawa Cranberry, and Mexican Pinto. The first two yielded the expected third of a pound per square foot. They are my tried and true beans (originally from the Ottawa Gardener years ago). The Mexican pinto was just under half that. Since half of the vines died unexpectedly early on, it was to be expected. I'll keep them, but I thought the Ga Ga Hut pintos yielded more. I can't really tell though as only one Ga Ga Hut bean plant survived the unexpected cold spell in late May. I had enough Mexican Pinto beans to replant, but I had no extra Ga Ga Huts. In addition the beans of Ga Ga Hut are larger. I might do the same trial again next year. We will see. I might try a bush pinto instead.
I'm fond of beans, too.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a wall hanging in my kitchen that a child made in Bible School. Many different beans formed a rooster with a bright colored tail. He was beautiful.
I have NEVER grown DRIED beans. Not sure why my family never let them grow to the DRY state. If dry beans were found while shelling our peas/beans, they were saved for seeds.
ReplyDeleteI had hoped to grow some this year but the heat and drought killed the Trail of Tears, Scarlet Runner, and Painted Lady beans I planted. I do want to try again next year.
I love looking at your dried beans in their jars... makes my heart happy!
Do you leave them on the vine until they dry? I have never grown beans beforr but I think I'll try next year.
ReplyDeleteMy dry bean crop yield was much lower this year from all of the rain late in the season. They are usually one of the easiest crops to grow. Not this year, I had to pull a lot of the dry bush beans and hang them to dry. They were just rotting and molding...even some of the pole beans!
ReplyDeleteI plant most of my dry beans as a second crop after some of the spring crops. This makes for a more efficient use of space.
I love dried beans also. This year I tried 2 varieties of Tarbais beans. I ended up with only 1.25 pounds of dried beans from a 10 foot row. I don't think that the beans were particularly unproductive, the rats just got more than their fair share, plus I lost a few plants to some soil borne disease. I've got a 10 foot row of borlotti beans going now but I'm hoping to be able to just get some shelly beans, they won't make it to the dried bean stage at ths time of year. At least the rats haven't raided those beans, so far...
ReplyDeleteYou're right about the supreme productivity of green beans, my 5 foot row of Musica pole beans produced over 18 pounds this year. The 5 foot row of Neckarkonigin beans produced over 12 pounds and that row had fewer plants than the Musica.
Disappointing year for beans for me too (aside from Painted lady runner beans). It was too cool and wet here and the slugs and snail population went wild. The beans flopped over refused to fruit up. The amount of drying beans harvested barely justifies the bother. Maybe next year?
ReplyDeleteKate yes i let them dry on the vine. If the season becomes too short or the vines produce more than one crop (like the Trail of Tears does for me), I'll use what doesn't dry as shelling beans. So far that is what I've been using as soup beans this fall, but I've finished them up now and will be starting to eat my dried beans. I want to get them weighed first though.
ReplyDeleteNice beans!
ReplyDeleteI share your love of dried beans, but I also sympathise with your view that the yeild per square foot is not great. You have to decide whether quantity is more important than quality though. I think not.
ReplyDeleteHello Daphne,
ReplyDeleteI place a few dried bay leaves in my bean jar to keep away unwanted pests. I do the same for my pasta, dried mushrooms and flour. For flour, tie the bay leaves in cheesecloth to prevent accidentally adding the leaves into your bake goods
Nice beans. I grew some Trail of Tears beans this year but havent cooked them yet. What do you use runner beans for? I haven't grown them for a while, but want to next year. The bees(and me) love the pretty red flowers.
ReplyDeleteLou, I grow them for the pretty flowers too. I do eat the beans. You can use them like any other dried beans, though I pick a lot of mine as shelling beans as they cook faster. I've made both soup and hummus from them. Though the hummus turned out a strange color because of the color of the beans.
ReplyDeleteAs I planted my first ever dried beans this year I am really pleased with a how to store them- Thankyou! Although if the yield isn't great I may end up eating them fresh anyway.
ReplyDeleteDried beans are actually a very difficult crop in my growing region. Our fall always arrives with heavy rains. Getting beans grown and dried and removed before the fall rains arrive is a monumental challenge. I have done it before but the yeilds are low and the risks of failure are high. I do better to buy organic grown dried beans from nearby central Washington state (the other side of the Cascade mountains) where the weather is dry and hot most of the summer.
ReplyDeleteI find the thought of growing beans to dry very interesting and fun. Doubt I'll try it though. I'm not even successful with green beans so I doubt I could grow these.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful carrots. As for dry beans, the yields may be less but they pack a lot more nutrition in starch and protein, with less water. Overall I'll bet the yield is comparable when you account for the water in most vegetables.
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