Although this website is essentially about the 1900s, a number of people have contacted me for help with trying the old preserving method of salting runner beans. Rather than keep repeating myself in emails, here is my quick method for stringing and slicing runner beans today - ready for either preserving them or using them directly.
In my view it is not worth bothering with shop-bought runner beans because they are not sufficiently fresh. Whether or not this affects taste is a matter of opinion, but what is important is that they will have become floppy. This makes them impossible to slice by the simple and quick method described below.
Lumpy runner bean that should be discarded.
As runner beans string and slice most easily when they are firm, it is best to prepare them immediately they are picked. Provided that the weather is fine, I like to do this while still in the garden, sitting with a bowl for waste between my legs and a bowl for the prepared beans at my side.
I have to pick my runner beans every two days because they develop so quickly, and it is all too easy for them to grow so big that they are 'stringy'. This is to be avoided because it is embarrassing for the cook and unpleasant for guests who have to chew round 'string' and then remove it to the sides of their plates.
As runner beans are so prolific, they have an unfortunate habit of hiding amongst their foliage. So inevitably some are missed during picking. When these are spotted later, they are large and lumpy from the enlarged seeds inside. You have to be strong-willed then, and throw them away. Not only will they be stringy, they will also not go through the slicing gadget described below. If left on the plant, the plant will put its energies into developing the seed and will stop producing more beans.
Snapping off the end of a bean with thumb and forefinger - which is quicker than using a knife.
Start by snapping off the tips at both ends of the runner bean, using the thumb and forefinger. This is quicker than using a knife and quicker than using the blade of the gadget described below. I like to have a bowl between my legs to let the waste drop into, with another bowl at the side for the prepared beans.
Gadget for stringing and slicing runner beans. (Mine is years old and is green. Those available these days seem to be white.)
The next step is to use a simple gadget for slicing and stringing. I have had mine for years and it is still available (in white rather than in my green version) - see the photo on the left. The gadget only needs rinsing under the tap afterwards to remove the bean juice, and can be left to dry in the air. A much smaller version without a handle is also available, which I have tried, but I find it too fiddly. Also it does not have a facility for removing the 'string' at the sides of beans, as my gadget does.
Push the bean through the hole the grippers - which adjust to its size. This is where a floppy bean disintegrates and clogs up the gadget. As the bean goes through, the 'string' along its sides is separated off. I let it drop into the bowl for waste between my legs.
Pushing the runner bean through the slicers of the gadget. The 'strings' are ejected sideways and should be discarded.
Once the beans are halfway through the gadget, I find it easier to pull the sliced part rather than continuing to push the unsliced part.
Left: 'Wringing' the long slices of a runner bean to break them into shorter lengths. Right: The prepared runner beans ready for freezing, salting or cooking.
The gadget produces slices that are too long for the table. Although they can be cut into shorter pieces with a knife, it is far easier to take a sliced bean and 'wring' it, like a wet towel. This breaks the lengths up into short slices which can readily be placed in the other bowl and from there to salting, freezing or cooking.
The 1940s and 1950s are also written as the 1940's and 1950's.
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