French Shelling Beans

[pigletwillie]

Like many of you I have grown quite a few varieties of french bean plus borlotti etc for shelling and drying. I am not talking about eating as a green bean here.

Other than a slight difference in shape and pattern I found most of them to have pretty much the same taste or texture and quite a few to be quite poor with regards to yield.

I now grow two varieties, a heritage Serbian pole bean (beans look like borllotti) and a white large beaned variety of runner bean (very like a gigandes) that I purchased from a well known real seed company based in Wales.

Both can be eaten as green beans and both are amazingly prolific as shelly beans, so much so that I dont bother with anything else.

Do any of you guys have great performing non commercial types of bean that are now your go to variety?

[Bren In Pots]

PW I grow Scarlet emperor that we eat as sliced beans to start of with then later in the season I let them mature and use the shelled beans in chillis. Then there's my favourite thats the Serbian poles bean that I shell for soups, stews and bakes.

[Thelma Sanders]

Shelling bean Spagna Bianco for me,
Bean (Shelling) Spagna Bianco Seeds|D. T. Brown Vegetable Seeds

and Trionfo Violetto - fantastic yield and you can still eat this one even when the pods have got bumpy Purple beans which turn green on cooking.
CLIMBING FRENCH BEAN TRIONFO VIOLETTO


Beans are saved for planting each year.......... although I'll have to buy more seed as they've all gone mouldy this year *sob sob*

[Guest]

French climbing bean - District nurse, must be good my Dad even saves the seed from it

It will also crop well quite early on in the year too boot!

[WilliamD]

Ditto Thelma's Spagna Bianco. They've been my best performer this year, better than Flageolet and Coco Nain Blanc. They're reasonably prolific, big and tasty.