Beans - or hasbeens?

[JohnN]

I had a good crop of runner beans this year, picked, prepared, blanched and froze quite a few in the usual way. But they have turned out stringy and as tough as the proverbial old boots and barely eatable. Could this be due to:
The weather making them grow like that?
Continuing to use the previous years' seed, which I've done for many years. Should one use new seed every now and again?
Too slow freezing? [The freezer was playing up a bit).
I think my originals were "Streamline".
Any other ideas? Thanks,
John N

[Beryl]

I never had much luck with freezing beans so don't do it any more but just a thought did you freeze the early young tender beans or wait till later in the cropping season before freezing?

Could it have been lack of water? daft question this year but with all the foliage it doesn't always get to where it should, the roots.

Beryl.

[JohnN]

The beans were an early crop, about July, but I admit I did not water a lot, working on the principal that it was better to let the roots dig down for moisture as there's been plenty of rain earlier on in May/June. They seemed go to seed pod very quickly this year, is that a sign of dryness?
Perhaps that's it, but would welcome any advice about renewing seed.

[Primrose]

I think if the beans were inadequately watered the skins could have become rather tough, even if you picked them fairly young. I don't think it's a case of using saved seed. I've often sown runner beans from saved seed and never had a problem. More likely to be a moisture deficiency effect I suspect, plus a freezing problem. The best way to freeze them is dry the chopped beans thoroughly after blanching and then open freeze them on a tray in the freezer until they're hard, when they can be bagged up. . This prevents them becoming frosted and seems to keep them in better condition.

[Geoff]

Did you eat some fresh at the same time as freezing them and if so were they OK? That would help tell us if it was the beans or the process. My wife usually rejects the toughies during slicing.

[JohnN]

The ones we ate fresh were OK. I did freeze them on an open tray after drying with kitchen roll, but they did form a lot of ice in the bags, don't know why. Would this toughen them?

[PLUMPUDDING]

If you pick them about 9 inches long they are lovely and tender. Any longer and I just take the stringy edge off with a knife before cooking. I don't like the taste of frozen runners, so only freeze my French beans so don't have any problems. I wonder if they got a bit de-hydrated in the freezing process but would expect them to recover when they were thawed and cooked but perhaps that toughened them up.

A very good book on freezing, and most other ways of preserving surplus fruit and veg is "Organic Vegetable and Fruit Growing and Preserving Month by Month" by Alan and Jackie Gear. It is full of very useful information on everything whether or not you are interested in organic growing. It also says what vitamins and minerals all the fruit and veg have and how to grow them.

[Primrose]

Yes I'm sure the accumulation of extra ice in the freezer bags would not have improved them at all. The secret of successful open freezing is to dry to beans off as much as possible first, remove as much surface water on the vegetables as possible. This will help prevent ice forming once the beans are bagged up. If they are able to move around loosely in the bag after the open freezing process without sticking together , you have probably got it right.