Green Beans

In the past, string, or green beans had a string running down the seam of the bean pod, which had to be removed before cooking. With the help of botanists, today's string beans are missing the string, and therefore are now predominately referred to as green beans instead of string beans. This creation of green beans without a string has not only greatly reduced the amount of time it takes to prepare them, but has also helped accelerate their popularity.

Green beans, also called snap beans, are a year-round commodity, except for the yellow wax beans, which run from October through June. Florida is the leading producer of green beans, with California and Georgia close behind. Significant amounts of green beans are also imported from Mexico.

Storage & Selection
Overall, it is best to purchase green beans from a supermarket that sells them loose so you can better select them for color, freshness, texture and size. Whether rounded snap or flattened pole, green beans should be fresh looking, with a bright light to dark green color. Make sure the beans are plump and firm, with a velvety feel, and free from any sign of decay. Green beans with rusty spots and scars should be avoided. Generally speaking smaller beans will be more tender.

Place green beans in a perforated plastic bag and store them in the refrigerator crisper. Although they will keep longer, up to 5 days, enjoy them within 2-3 days.

Preparation
First, wash the green beans thoroughly and then snap off both ends of the bean before cooking. To save time when you are preparing a lot of green beans, try lining up 6-8 beans, and trim the ends with a chef's knife. When cooked, beans should be tender, quite firm, but well cooked. Snap beans are great steamed, boiled or microwaved and wonderful in stir-fry recipes. It is important not to overcook them, because overcooked beans lose their crisp tender texture and their beautiful color. More importantly, they lose their some of their nutritional value.

Tony's Tip
Enjoy raw green beans as a snack, just like you would celery or carrots...they're crunchy and delicious.

Tony's Favorite Recipe
Green Beans with Lemon and Anchovy

Varieties
Blue Lake snap beans are the classically shaped, rounded green beans familiar to most.

Romano beans (a.k.a. Italian String Beans) are flat, wide snap beans with a wonderful, meaty texture.

Baby French green beans (Haricot Verts) are tender bright green colored beans that are smaller than the common green beans at between two to three inches long and not much thicker than a matchstick or shoelace. Quite meaty with a soft velvety skin, they still retain the string that has been bred out of most of the other green bean varieties.

Kentucky Wonder (KY) beans fall somewhere in between the shape of the rounded Blue Lake and the flat Romano.

Yellow wax beans look like green, snap beans except for their pale yellow almost translucent color.

Purple was beans are dark purple beans similar to small yellow wax beans, but have pods that turn green when cooked.

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