Leave Borlottis on or whip em off?

**smallblueplanet** · 19-07-2008, 06:20 PM

I've only grown climbing borlotti and they're quite prolific. We have borlotti beans fresh (not dried) and with the climbers they still produce more.

You have to leave the pods on the plant for the beans to fatten, but you can eat the beans (cooked) fresh, you don't have to dry them 1st. As to whether if you picked some off dwarf borlotti you'd get another crop, I've never grown them and so don't know how prolific they are.

**SarzWix** · 19-07-2008, 09:57 PM

In general, with Dwarf French Beans, picking the beans stimulates the production of more flowers. Depends if you want fresh beans or dried, I guess. If you want them dried, they have to stay on the plant til fully ripe and the pods go papery.

**DavidJP** · 20-07-2008, 06:32 AM

At the same stage as you, I understand that there supposed to be eaten as flageolets which basically means unripe beans much as you would eat broad beans. But also I think you can eat them in the same way as other french beans (whole pods) or as dried ripe beans (haricots).

**Flummery** · 20-07-2008, 08:25 AM

I've eaten a few (growing dwarf and climbing and only the dwarf have yet produced beans big enough to eat) and we tried some as fresh beans. They are good like this. I'm saving the climbing for shelly and dried purposes - and for next year's seed. I bought dwarf by mistake but I'm not complaining - they always fruit earlier. I find they are more likely to get slugged as they hang near the ground so I don't think I shall bother with shelling or drying these - but then, as I have both, that doesn't matter. They will produce more if you pick them.

**smallblueplanet** · 20-07-2008, 08:36 AM

How big do your dwarf borlotti plants grow Flum (are they a particular variety?)? I like the idea of early borlotto's as they are gorgeous tasting when fresh.

**Flummery** · 20-07-2008, 08:50 AM

They are about 10" high (although one is starting to try to climb - delusions of grandeur!
I haven't got the packet as I passed on the spare seeds to my son, but I think they are just called borlotto. When I saw the climbing ones I bought those too, so I have an A-frame full at the lottie too. These are just in flower now. Interestingly (to me anyway) the dwarf have a lilac flower and the climbing a white flower.

**RobintheBobin** · 20-07-2008, 09:03 AM

Hi everyone

Thanks for the advice. Flummery, i think your plan sounds good - i also have climbers (and also ordered dwarves by mistake) which I could save for drying. Stupidly I didn't really think about eating them fresh - assumed they had to be dried. Dur.

I will investigate and squeeze them today to see if fat enough to eat; do you just steam them as per a broadie or better mixed in with a sauce?

Oh the unknown world of Borlottis

**Two_Sheds** · 20-07-2008, 09:11 AM

You're all just showing off.
My borlottis haven't even flowered yet

but my Blue Lakes, and Flummery's Serbian beans, are setting

**Two_Sheds** · 20-07-2008, 09:17 AM

Originally posted by RobintheBobin View Post

do you just steam them as per a broadie or better mixed in with a sauce?

You need to cook French beans before you eat them, as they contain a toxin. Don't eat raw, as you would Broadies.
Veg Box Recipes • French Beans (Green Beans)

here's a recipe for Borlotti casserole BBC - Food - Recipes - Sausage and bean casserole
If using fresh borlottis (flageolet) instead of tinned, cook them for 15-20 mins first

**RobintheBobin** · 20-07-2008, 11:53 AM

[QUOTE=Two_Sheds;259199]You need to cook French beans before you eat them, as they contain a toxin. Don't eat raw, as you would Broadies.
Veg Box Recipes • French Beans (Green Beans)

GULP...does that include all french beans - climbers, dwarves and borlottis?? I think I'm about to keel over....

**Two_Sheds** · 20-07-2008, 07:01 PM

A warning: All dry beans should be soaked overnight, boiled hard for 15 minutes and then simmered until soft, or else you run the risk of food poisoning, particularly from poorly cooked red kidney beans.
The beans contain a toxin called phytohaemagglutinin, or lectin. It causes red blood cells to clump together, resulting in nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Recovery is usually spontaneous, although hospitalisation is sometimes necessary.

(I ate some out of the freezer that I thought had already been cooked - they hadn't. I suffered!)

**Two_Sheds** · 20-07-2008, 07:06 PM

Raw beans need to be boiled for a minimum of ten mins. Even green beans, such as French or runner beans, contain a small amount of lectins and should not be eaten raw.

Before they are eaten, the raw bean seeds should be boiled for at least ten minutes to degrade a toxic compound - the lectin phytohaemagglutinin - found in the bean which would otherwise cause severe gastric upset... outbreaks of poisoning have been associated with the use of slow cookers, whose low cooking temperatures may be unable to degrade the toxin. Planet Science | Out There

**Demeter** · 20-07-2008, 08:03 PM

Thanks for that, TS - I'd been munching on the young bean pods once or twice without ill effect but won't be taking the chance again

Already knew you had to cook dried beans, just didn't know the same applied to flagealots or the fresh pods.

PS I'm not sure how to spell flagealots but my spell checker is suggesting "flagellates" and I'm pretty sure that's not what I mean...

PPS "Heating kidney beans to only 80�C (i.e. below boiling point) can turn them five times more toxic. " !!!

**Two_Sheds** · 20-07-2008, 08:14 PM

Originally posted by Demeter View Post

Thanks for that, TS - I'd been munching on the young bean pods once or twice without ill effect but won't be taking the chance again

Already knew you had to cook dried beans, just didn't know the same applied to flagealots or the fresh pods.

I used to eat them raw too, until Flummery told me not to. I think it was her.
It would explain the IBS symptoms I have on and off!

I had some under-cooked borlottis out of the freezer the other day ... I didn't know they weren't cooked properly, just thought they were a bit hard. Boy, have I suffered since then! Stomach cramps & stabbing pains, nausea, and the rest of it

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