I'm located in the Pacific Northwest, and since rain is on the way, I harvested my shelling beans a bit early to avoid losing them to mold. Most of the beans are nice and hard, but about a quarter of them are soft and pale, indicating they might not be fully mature. Will these slightly underdeveloped beans taste okay if I dry them properly?
2 Answers
If it were me, I would have let them stay on the plant longer—rainy weather usually doesn't hurt them too much, and they can dry out later. However, since you've already harvested, I wouldn't trust those soft, pale beans to dry properly, especially with the humidity. I recommend cooking them up right away and then freezing the cooked beans if you can't use them immediately. They should taste good and are perfect for soups and refried beans!
I've grown cowpeas before and had a similar experience with some beans being a bit moist. They ended up tasting just fine!
That's comforting to hear!
I’ve got a few borotto pole beans still in my garden. I'll let them hang a little longer to mature. Luckily, I have a dehydrator to get them nice and dry after harvesting!