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Green beans
Phaseolus vulgaris · Vegetable
40 pairings
Green beans are the immature, tender pods of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), eaten whole — pod, seeds and all — before the inner beans swell. Slim, bright green and famously snappy when fresh, they are mild and grassy raw and turn sweet and silky once blanched, steamed or sautéed; sold variously as string, snap, French or haricots verts.
Shop freshThe all-rounder: blanch, steam or sauté hot with garlic.Everyday best
The snapSnaps, but quietly and slowly
Pod surfaceColour dulling, a few pale scuffs
Snipped endCut end dry but still pale
Smell in the bagGreen, close to nothing
What to look for, from squeaky, snapping, slim to bendy, freckled, seeds bulging.
What one gives you
88%
Usable yield
5.5 g · ends snipped off
6.25 g
Typical weight
one specimen
Keeping ittap a band
Below 5 C the whole pod goes opaque and dull and can pit — about four days at 2 C is enough. Rusty brown freckles show even at 5 to 7.5 C after a week.
Humidity
95-100%
Near-saturated. The slim immature pod loses water faster than a mature one and goes bendy in dry fridge air; a perforated bag holds it.
Airflow
Vented, never wet
A vented bag, never sealed: beans respire hard, and trapped damp starts grey mould and cottony leak at the snipped ends. Do not ice or mist them.
Yellows beside ripening fruit
Beans make almost no ethylene themselves but suffer from it: apples, pears or bananas on the same shelf yellow the green and cut keeping time by a third or more.