Dwarf French bean with butter pod Sonesta

The Dwarf Bean Sonesta produces beautiful lemon yellow pods measuring between 13 and 15cm (5 and 6in) in length. They do not produce a string but instead form a beautiful ivory-colored bean that can be eaten fresh or dried when the pod is parchment-like. When immature, this bean has a soft and melting flesh that children generally enjoy. It becomes so easy to teach them to appreciate beans. String beans, green beans, and snap beans can all be used in the same recipes. The Sonesta Bean lends itself to all culinary variations. There are indeed many ways to prepare them. Simply with butter, garlic, and parsley, that's how it brings out all its flavour. The bean itself is also excellent and can be consumed in soups, stews, or creamy purees.
It is also a very vigorous variety and highly resistant to bean diseases. Sonesta is a small, bushy variety that is very compact and, with its height of 45cm (18in) and width of 30cm (12in), is suitable for brightening up small spaces such as patios, window sills, or balconies with its beautiful bright pods.
Sow from April to July for harvests from June to September.

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

Discovered in the New World and acclimatised in Europe from the 16th century onwards, the bean has now become an essential legume in diets all over the world. Native Americans cultivated it for its dried seeds, but it was the Italians who, in the 18th century, introduced the consumption of the whole immature pod.

The bean is a vine with indeterminate growth. The primitive varieties are all climbing 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 generally green, sometimes yellow, striped with red, or even amethyst. Among the varieties that are eaten at the fine or extra fine stage, there are string beans that have strings when ripe. Then the pod becomes parchment-like and loses its taste.
The snap bean is generally fleshier and can be consumed entirely, both the seeds and the pods, even when fully ripe. The more recently created filet beans can be eaten when young and extra fine or when more fleshy like a snap bean as they do not form strings.

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

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 colour. For pod consumption, harvesting should take place every 2 or 3 days for both the fine and extra fine stages for filet beans. Harvesting dry seeds involves cutting the entire plant and hanging it in a dry and airy place. The seeds can be shelled as needed.

Storage: freezing the 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 packaged, the beans can be placed in the freezer at -18°C (-0.4°F). However, canning is regaining its popularity among an increasing number of consumers due to the inherent taste qualities of this preservation method. Like freezing, remove the stems, wash them, blanch them, then plunge the beans into cold water. Put them in jars, fill them with salted boiling water, seal them, and sterilise them in a pressure cooker or with a steriliser for 1 hour and 30 minutes over medium heat. Completely cover the jars with water after securing them.

Dried beans: when fully dry, bean seeds can be stored for up to a year if kept 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 thanks to a plant-bacteria symbiosis. They therefore have the ability to regenerate soils. Beans can be included in crop rotations after burying green manure.
Beans are not very demanding of nutrients. Traditionally, bean cultivation in Central and South America is associated with the cultivation of squash and corn, forming a beneficial triad. This association is locally known as 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 inhibits each other.

A spray of nettle extract allows for effective control of aphid attacks and also strengthens the plants.