Quote:
Originally Posted by 4season
Just be cautious about eating uncooked scarlet runners or hyacinth beans. Raw they may contain somewhat toxic glucosides.
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The snaps from runner beans are no more toxic raw than those of common snap beans... or I wouldn't be here to post this.
I eat a lot of snaps raw as I harvest, provided that the seeds inside are undeveloped (Fortex is really good raw). It is the developed seeds that contain the greatest concentration of toxins, and for beans of the genus Phaseolus (common beans, runner beans, and limas) those toxins are destroyed by cooking. I would second Tormato's caution about eating mature hyacinth beans, though. The same caution would apply to eating jack beans or sword beans.