It is currently mid October and the green beans keep producing and putting on more blooms. This is the time of year that most gardeners are praying for the first frost to end the season because they have been blessed with a lot of their fruit of their labor. With the beans lack luster performance over the summer months, that’s ok by me. Not having enough plants to really justify canning, we bought a few bushels from a local farmer and canned to our hearts content. We have broken into some of those already and they turned out great. At this point the plants leaves are getting a bit sparse and wilted but that makes the beans easier to see. It is putting on new blooms as well, so there are a few more harvests to make.

So what to do with the green beans from the garden? The garden only produces about 2 quarts per picking. I end up picking every 2 to 4 days. The beans and cherry tomatoes are the only things we have to deal with at this point. With a manageable number of beans I find it best to just freeze them.

The process of freezing green beans is pretty simple. Like about any process with green beans, you cut them into bite size pieces, about an inch in length. Bring a pot of water up to boil. Put the cut beans in the boiling water. The water may stop boiling with the mass you just put in, so wait till it comes back up to a boil. Let boil for 3 minutes. Have another pot of cold water with ice in it ready to chill the beans. After that 3 of boiling, place the beans in the ice bath for another 3 minutes. Strain off the water and put in a ziplock bag. Throw in freezer and your done till you wish to eat them.

As a note for freezer storage, a zip lock bag is for short term storage in the freezer. For longer term it might be better to vacuum seal them. But its green beans, there’s no since growing them if your not going to eat them. I’m sure you could work them into a meal in the near future. We sure do.

Simple recipe for these frozen beans are:

Melt some butter in a pan

Add green beans (thawed first)

Throw in some chopped onion

A little garlic

Maybe some bits of bacon

Sautee till the beans are a dark green, then serve and enjoy.