Common bean Roi des Beurres

This King Dwarf Butter Bean is truly the king: it can be harvested for over 5 months from June to October. It can be picked before and after other varieties. Its straw yellow pods, which are 17 to 20 cm (7 to 8in) long and plump, contain white beans and can be eaten like snap peas. Its tender and melting flesh is generally liked by children. It becomes so easy to teach them to appreciate beans. Butter beans and green beans can be used in the same recipes. The King of Butter Beans lends itself to all culinary variations. There are indeed many ways to prepare them. Think in particular of Italian, Indian or Lebanese preparations that are enjoyed fresh. These recipes are ideal during summer harvests. And to top it all off, the King of Butter Beans is a variety that is very well suited for canning and freezing. It is highly resistant to most bean diseases.

Whether consumed for its pod or its bean, the bean is a vegetable highly appreciated in gardens because it is very easy to grow. It is so punctual that the gardener knows the exact day when they will harvest their first crop, which is 60 days after sowing.

Discovered in the New World and acclimatized in Europe from the 16th century onwards, the bean has now become an essential legume in world cuisine. Native Americans cultivated it for its dried beans, but it was the Italians who, in the 18th century, pioneered the consumption of the whole immature pod. The bean is a vine with indeterminate growth. Primitive varieties are all climbers and require support. Later, for practical reasons, dwarf varieties were selected, but they all have tendrils that can wrap around a support. The pods are usually green, sometimes yellow (butter beans), striped with red or even amethyst. Among the varieties that are eaten at the thin or extra fine stage, there are fillet beans that have threads when ripe. Then the pod becomes parchment-like and loses its taste quality. The snap bean is generally fleshier and can be consumed entirely, both the seeds and the pods, even when ripe. More recently created fillet-snap beans can be consumed when young and extra fine, or until they become fleshier like a snap bean because they do not form threads.

Among the shelling varieties (i.e. those whose seeds are consumed), we can distinguish between the harvest of fresh beans and that of dried beans, which is 90 days after sowing.

Immature green pods are rich in vitamins A, B9 and C, trace elements and minerals. Dried beans are also very rich in vitamin C, trace elements and especially plant proteins.

Harvesting: the harvest of fresh beans or young pods begins 60 days after sowing. For fresh beans, it must be done before the pods start to dehydrate and wrinkle. The beans should barely take on their color. For pod consumption, the harvest should take place every 2 or 3 days, both at the thin and extra fine stages for fillet beans. The harvest of dried beans is done by cutting the whole plant and hanging it in a dry and ventilated place. The beans can be shelled as needed.

Storage: freezing pods is now the most common method of preservation. To do this, remove the stems, wash them, blanch them for 5 to 6 minutes in boiling water, then plunge them into cold water before drying them with a clean cloth. Once placed in a bag, the beans can be stored in the freezer at -18°C (-0.4°F). However, canning is regaining popularity for an increasing number of consumers because of the taste qualities inherent in this method of preservation. Like freezing, remove the stems, wash them, blanch them, then plunge the beans into cold water. Then put them in jars and fill them with boiling salted water. Close them and sterilize them in a pressure cooker or with a sterilizer for 1 hour and 30 minutes over medium heat. To do this, completely cover the jars with water after securing them properly.

Dried beans: when completely dry, bean seeds can be stored for up to a year if stored in good conditions, such as in airtight jars.

Gardener's tip: beans, like all members of the Fabaceae family, have the ability to fix nitrogen from the air in the soil through a plant-bacteria symbiosis. They have the ability to regenerate soils. Beans can be included in crop rotation after burying green manure. In Central and South America, bean cultivation is traditionally associated with squash and corn, forming a triad with beneficial companionship. This association is locally called Milpa. Beans also associate well with eggplants, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, and radishes as they protect each other. Avoid the presence of alliums or fennel as their growth is inhibited.

A spray of nettle manure allows for effective control of aphid attacks and strengthens the plants that benefit from it.