ANZ's Farms



Saturday, July 23, 2011

Asparagus Beans

Look at my colorful harvest! The Dr. Wychie yellow tomatoes are ready. They are an heirloom variety that are as delicious as they are beautiful -- they give tomato dishes an interesting (in a good way) color. The Carolina Wonder bell peppers are now red on the vine and the Pimiento peppers continue to be heavy producers. My goal today is to make some Pimiento cheese spread.

But the most delightful vege from the garden these days is the prolific Asparagus Bean. The seeds were given to my by a Chinese egg customer. I had no idea what to expect, but whatever expectations I harbored have been exceeded greatly by this unusual plant. The beans are over a foot long and hang on the vine where they can easily be seen and harvested. Many of my plants play hide-and-seek with me for their produce, but this plant puts the goodies right out there. A little twist to release them and they are in the basket. I use them just like string beans. One bean makes a palm full of 1-inch slices ready to go into the pot or canning jar.

I am definitely saving seed from this new friend to enjoy for summers to come.

3 comments:

  1. That's interesting about the asparagus bean. I'd love to try them myself! Do they taste the same as our traditional green beans?

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  2. Oh, those beans look soooo good! We just ate the last of the peppers you gave us (FYI, pimento peppers broiled a couple minutes really, really taste good!).

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  3. Amelia -We have some of those, too. We were calling them "asian long beans" because we didn't know the actual name. =) Are you guys saving seeds from your heirlooms? We have some Cherokee Purple, German Johnsons, Mexican midgets, and Stupice. Maybe we could swap seeds for next year.

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