Drying CFB

For the first time I've grown  a CFB called Coco blanc á rames.  They say the beans can be dried, which I assume means leave them on the vine to ripen and go crispy and bring under cover.   I don't have much experience using dried beans so can you tell me whether when using should I follow the usual precautions to boil for 30 mins, like kidney beans, then use in whatever recipe?

Yes leave them on the vines until dry. Shell them and leave on a flat tray for several days to make sure they are quite dry. I store mine in paper bags and have never had a problem with mould. To use them, soak overnight in lots of water. The next day change the water and bring to the boil. Boil hard for 10mins and then simmer until tender then use in whatever recipe you are making. The 10minute boil will destroy the toxins and should be done to all dry beans.

I forgot to add, don’t add salt to the beans for the initial cooking it slows down the cooking process.

If you have a pressure cooker, you can soak in warm water for an hour and then cook for 15 to 20 minutes depending how long it takes to soften.

You can save any bean for drying - even your runners. If you have some room in your freezer and some of your runners have got a little bit you can shell those and freeze fresh.

I’d never thought of freezing them Scarlet, how mad is that. I frequently miss one that is a little too tough to consider cooking so shelling and freezing the beans makes a lot of sense as it can be done in small batches a handful at a time.

One runner bean, Czar, purports to be a good substitute for butter beans. From Suttons site "A heritage runner bean, for fresh young green pods or drying for butter beans - perfect for soups and casseroles, and a good source of protein, iron, vitamin B and fibre."

Real seeds sell Czar too

The Czar
This UK variety of runner bean is hugely productive. It grows really tall and bears lots of white flowers that set long pods.

We particularly like Czar because as well as vast numbers of nice flat green pods for normal use fresh, it will also later make fat white seeds that are very easy to dry and shell out of their pods.

The dry beans can be stored and boiled just like butter beans - we always set aside a few plants for dry bean production as they are so delicious cooked that way.

But we eat lots of fresh beans each year too in the normal fashion. It makes so many!

50 seeds (approx) £ 2.82