A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Pole Beans & Cukes

I live in Wisconsin and my husband is the gardener in our family. But he's been very busy at work and as a result, our pole beans (green beans he grows on three branches tied together to form a tee-pee) have gotten overripe. My son already picked a bucket of them, but they don't taste good. Can I still do something with these? Can I open up the pods and use the seeds in soup or something? If so, can I freeze the seeds as they are or do I need to blanch them?

We also have overripe cukes. Any use for these or should I just compost them? Several weeks ago, we picked cukes and made them into refrigerator pickles. But we only need so many pickles! The rest of the cukes are now overripe.

If the pods are still green, you can shell them (take the beans out of the pods) and freeze them. You do need to blanch them for 3 minutes, and then put them in ice water for 3 minutes before you put them in freezer bags. OR depending on the variety of bean, you can let the pods hang on the plants until they dry out completely. You'd have dried beans. Blackeyed peas are an example of dried beans.

Over ripe cucumbers aren't good for very much. They loose their flavor and become bitter. But if you still have some that are of an o.k. size, you can freeze them!!

http://divinebrinefoods.com/blog/?p=36

These are absolutely delicious. They retain their crispness and are a taste of summer on a cold winter day.