Best pole snap beans
 

Last year I grew a bunch of different pole beans. I liked some and didn't like others.

The one I really did not like that some people rave about was tobacco worm.

My best one for taste was northeaster it's like a romano bean it was the best tasting bean I have ever grown. The seeds were expensive though and you HAVE to pick them early or they are really tough.

Rattlesnake was my heaviest yielding.

I just wanted to see what others thought was thier best tasting snap pole bean?

Thanks

Jim

This season it's Muffet. Best tasting and earliest - 57 days from sowing I had my first meal from the vines. The others I had in were Blue Lake and Macedonian White. The latter were for dried beans but the fresh pods tasted pretty good and were tender, at least while they were young.

Rattlesnake had been a staple in my garden...but last year they seemed to have zippers more than usual..despite picking them early. I have to believe this was a result of environmental factors like heat and watering.

This year going with all stringless...Blue Lake and Lazy Wife. Need to find a third...wanting to get a puple podded variety.

pole beans
 

I like tender beans and want them to stay tender for a good while. Most stringless beans don't seem to stay tender like the stringed varieties; at least the ones I've grown. My favorite is a family heirloom called Tennessee Cutshort. Possibly it bears some resemblance to the Tobacco Worm. But I'm not sure. It has brown seed. If I had to purchase bean seed I'd probably look up Bill Best's web site. For me Blue Lake is just so so. Kentucky Wonder is okay. But a good tender podded bean (probably with strings) will have better flavor and hold longer.

The thing one needs to remember with these beans is to let them fill out a bit before picking. With the stringless beans I find that I want to pick them small. But with my stringed beans I want to let the seed fill out a bit. That's when they have the best flavor, and of course... they're still tender.

George

Jim,

Jeminez is my benchmark. PM me if you'd like some seed.

Tormato

What is the "Jeminez" bean like? Is it good as a snap and dry?

Dean

We grow Blue Lake every year and consider that our "bread and butter" pole snap bean. I also like Fortex. We grew Brown Speckled Greasy bean last year. I didn't care as much for the greasy beans as for the snap beans. I was talking to my sister, whose husband came from the hills of North Carolina, and she said his family always had greasy beans and that they cooked them a long, long, long time. So maybe there is a different tradition with cooking the greasy beans as compared to the snap beans, as we've always cooked those pretty lightly.

Dean,

Jeminez is a triple purpose bean. Used as a snap, shelly, or dried. It has no strings, and stays tender right up to the time the pod starts drying. Large seeds and huge flat pods.

Tormato

Where do they sell the beans? I checked a few places I purchase seeds and they did not list them.

thanks,
Dean

[quote=Ruth_10;88376]We grow Blue Lake every year and consider that our "bread and butter" pole snap bean. I also like Fortex. We grew Brown Speckled Greasy bean last year. I didn't care as much for the greasy beans as for the snap beans. I was talking to my sister, whose husband came from the hills of North Carolina, and she said his family always had greasy beans and that they cooked them a long, long, long time. So maybe there is a different tradition with cooking the greasy beans as compared to the snap beans, as we've always cooked those pretty lightly.[/quote]

Ruth, cooking the beans a long, long time has nothing to do with the variety of bean as far as I know. It is an old fashioned way of cooking green beans, guaranteed to turn almost anyone into a vegetable hater. Beans were cooked with a hunk of fat back/salt pork/bacon and some water for one or two HOURS (yes, that is right - hours!) until they were "tender." Both my Yankee and my Southern grandmas cooked green beans this way, so it is not a regional thing. Leftover, perhaps, from the days of Leather Britches Beans*, which really did take that long to cook and then some.

*Green beans strung and hung to dry.

I have a friend who still cooks green beans that way. She calls them "all day beans" or something like that. I call them slimy and ugly colored. /puke

Dean,

I think Sandhill is about the only one that sells Jeminez. If you can't find 'em, PM me.

Tormato

I don't have much experience with pole beans yet, but I grew and loved Fortex last year. This year I'll also be growing Rattlesnake.

Rattlesnake is a favorite of mine for fresh eating, as is Fortex. I've had better results canning Blue Lake, for visual appeal as much as taste. The Blue Lake is rounder and more uniform, in my experience.

I meant to mention that I also hate beans cooked FOREVER. The kitchen in the hospital I worked at in KY was notorious for cooking the beans until barely recognizable and with enough fat/salt to kill someone fast. My favorite way to cook green beans is to steam and then butter with a little of that Adobo seasoning. I wouldn't have thought of it but had it at a hispanic friend's house one night and it was delish. It's not cumin tasting or anything like that.