Beans for Drying

Beans for Drying

By P M Lloyd

Why Grow Beans for Drying?
Growing your own food is a wonderfully satisfying experience. Drying beans are, however, an especially useful and satisfying crop to grow because they have so many different culinary uses. What's more they are easily and cheaply produced, they store well, don't require a large amount of storage space and can be brought out in the winter months after other more perishable stored home-grown crops have been used up.

Seed Planting
When growing beans for drying, seed should be sown as soon as conditions allow so that the beans have plenty of time to ripen on the plant before harvesting. However, as beans are susceptible to frost it's important not to be tempted to sow seed too early. Generally around the end of May to early June is a good time to sow, with seeds being planted about 5cm deep. I often warm the soil up for a few weeks beforehand by covering the area of ground where I intend to sow with a large sheet of plastic. Dwarf beans can be planted in double rows, but climbing beans will need bean poles, netting, trellis work, or another suitable supporting structure to grow up. Whatever you use for a support will need to be sturdy so that the beans will not be blown down in strong winds. Beans grow best in a rich soil, so add plenty of compost and a sprinkling of seaweed meal too, if you have some.

Newly germinated bean plants can be susceptible to slug attack so you may need to protect the young plants by covering them with sawn -in-half plastic bottle cloches. When the beans become too tall remove the bottle and encourage climbing varieties of beans to climb up their support. If you have plenty of space, then do sow extra beans as many varieties of drying bean can also be harvested young and cooked and eaten as fresh green beans. Stop climbing varieties of beans by pinching off the tips when they reach the top of their supports. Drying beans are an easy crop to grow, requiring little attention other than watering well in dry weather. Providing you can avoid slug attack they tend to remain largely disease and pest free except for broad beans, which can be prone to blackfly attack.

Harvesting, Drying & Storing Your Beans
Bean pods should be harvested sometime in September before the weather deteriorates and frosts start to return. Harvest the beans on a fine day when the bean pods are dry and after any early morning dew has dried off. If the pods are dry and papery in texture the beans can be removed from the pods straight away. Otherwise spread the pods out on newspaper, or preferably on drying racks and allow them to dry off further in a dry airy place such as an airing cupboard or on a windowsill before shelling out the beans. Alternatively, if you are short of drying space, the plants can be cut off at the base of the stem and hung up in any airy place to dry. After shelling the beans should be spread out on trays and kept on a windowsill to complete the drying process, shaking the trays regularly. Alternatively, the shelled beans could be dried inside a dehydrator.

Once the beans are completely dry transfer them to airtight containers and store them in a cool place away from direct sunlight. If you have a good crop that exceeds your needs, then some of the dried seeds could be saved in brown paper envelopes/bags and used for next year's seed, thus saving even more money. If you intend to do this though, then it is better to air dry the seeds naturally rather than using a dehydrator. Soya beans are more frost tolerant and can usually be harvested later than other types of drying bean. If you want to, you can also dry and store broad beans. However, broad beans are usually sown and harvested earlier than other types of drying bean. Ustie and Envy are two types of soya bean that have been especially produced for growing in the UK (see table below). However, you really need to be able to sow soya beans on a fairly large patch of land in order to produce a meaningful crop. I find that other types of drying bean tend to be far more productive than soya beans in UK conditions.

Drying bean varieties that can be grown in the UK include:

BEAN VARIETIES SUITABLE FOR DRYING
NAME	COLOUR OF BEAN	SUPPLIER(S)	ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Canadian Wonder	Red	OGC/SH	Good in chilli con carne. Dwarf habit.
Brown Dutch	Golden Brown	OGC
Horsehead	Dark Red	OGC	Ideal for making chilli con carne.
Soissons	Light Green	OGC	Climber
Barlotta Lingua di Fuoco	Red Striped	OGC/CS/SH	Climber
Barlotto di Fuoco		TO	Dwarf version of above.
Cannellino	White	OGC/SH
Marie Louise	Pink	OGC	Climber
Pea Bean	Cream/Chocolate	OGC/SH	Climber
Czar	Cream	OGC	Climber
Bird's Egg		*	Buttery flavoured beans, grow well in dry conditions.
Blauhilde		*	Delicious, nutty flavour, a very decorative plant.
Blue and white	Blue Speckled	*	Usually does well in UK climate.
Blue Coco		*	Climber, heavy cropping, very attractive plant.
Caseknife		*	Stringless, freezing not recommended.
Cherokee Trail of Tears	Black	*	Needs little watering.
Coco Bicolour	Cream & Purple Mottled	*	Rich beany flavour.
District Nurse	Green & Mauve	*	Stringless with striking pods. Beans have a superb flavour.
Pea Bean Inca	Red Speckled	*	A pea bean.
Jack Edward's	White & Brownish Purple	*	A pea bean.
Lazy Housewife		*	Wonderful flavour & texture and a very decorative plant.
Old Homestead		*	Almost stringless, freezes well.
Oregon Giant		*	Stringless pods, likes cool, wet soils.
Poletschka	Look like shiny black currants	*
Purple Giant	Brown	*	Originally brought from Australia
Blue Lake	Small, White Haricot- like Bean	CS/SH	Climber.
White Emergo	Creamy White	CS/SH	Climber.
Wax Bean Yin Yang	Black & White	CS	Dwarf plants. Mild flavoured with excellent visual appeal.
Soya Bean Ustie	Creamy White	T & M	Specially bred for the British climate, ready late September. 100% GM free.
Soya Bean Envy	Creamy White	SH	Only 60cm in height.
Lablab Bean	Green	SH	Climber reaching up to 2m.

Supplier Key:
T&M = Thompson & Morgan
TO = Tamar Organics
SH = Suffolk Herbs
OGC = Organic Gardening Catalogue
CS = Chiltern Seeds
* = Possibly still available from The Heritage Seed Library

Cooking and Using Dried Beans

Nutrition: High in fibre, beans are also a good source of carbohydrate and when they are eaten with a grain are a complete source of protein. Filling and nutritious, they also supply some calcium and iron.

Preparation: Wash the dried beans thoroughly in several changes of water to ensure that they are clean, removing any foreign objects and any discoloured or broken beans. Then soak the beans for three hours (or overnight) in a large bowl of cold water. Finally, drain off the soaking water and cook the beans. The soaked beans can be cooked separately in large batches, either in a large pan of boiling water, or preferably in a pressure cooker which shortens the cooking time considerably (see manufactor's instructions for cooking times as this varies for different types of beans). Alternatively, small amounts of soaked beans can be added to winter soups, stews and casseroles and cooked along with a variety of different vegetables and some stock and tomato puree. When cooking beans always ensure that they are cooked properly. As some beans contain toxins (e.g. red kidney beans) it is a good idea to boil all beans rapidly for about 10 minutes to kill any toxins and then simmer them until they are completely cooked. Incidently, soya beans contain certain inhibitors for protein digestion, which are also destroyed by boiling. Once cooked the beans can be used in recipes (see below). Any spare cooked beans can be stored in clean jam jars and frozen ready for later use.

Serving Suggestions:

One of my favourite ways of using cooked beans is to blend them into a creamy hummus/pate. This could be used as a dip, or as a sandwich spread, a pitta bread filling, or inside a halved red pepper.
A mixture of multi-coloured, whole cooked beans could be used to make a pretty mixed bean salad, adding a dressing of your choice just before serving. (A vegan mayonnaise or an oil and vinegar dressing would be most suitable.) This bean salad could simply be served with a mixed green salad and some crusty bread, or could be used to stuff a pitta bread, tortilla wrap, or a halved red pepper. Try adding some crushed garlic, chopped chilli pepper, cumin, curry powder, or mixed herbs to the dressing for extra flavour. Why not mix in some sweetcorn kernels to add colour to the bean salad and to make it a more complete source of protein?
A mixture of dried beans could also be used to make a chilli bean stew as mentioned previously in an earlier issue.
Red beans are traditionally added to chilli con carne, although of course the beans in a chilli don't necessarily have to be red! To make a vegan chilli use a soya TVP substitute instead of mincemeat.
Soya beans can simply be dry roasted and eaten as a tasty snack - see the roasted soya bean recipe for more information on this. (Please note that Soya Fresh! no longer supplies soya beans.)
When adding beans to a soup it is often a good idea to use beans that have been cooked earlier and perhaps frozen and defrosted as this speeds up the soup making process considerably. Small white beans are especially delicious in a minestrone like soup.
Cooked beans can be mashed smooth with a potato masher, flavoured with chilli powder and tomato puree and reheated to give refried beans. (Although I always moisten with a little water, rather than using oil.) Serve the refried beans inside taco shells with shredded lettuce and other salad vegetables and perhaps some grated vegan cheese.
Pre-cooked beans can also be used to make beans on toast. I prefer to use white beans for this such as soya beans or a small white haricot like bean, but do feel free to experiment with any type and colour of bean that you have managed to grow!