# Mature (Overripe) Green Beans



## calicoty

Today I was blessed with about 2-3 bushels of green beans / Roma beans. Many of them are overripe with the beans in the pod very mature. I was wondering what to do with them. Could I shell them and dry them like navy beans? Or is there something else I might be able to use them for? Otherwise, I guess they'll be chicken food (but I much rather use them for the people in the house!)

Any advice would be great. I've been looking on the internet, but can't seem to google the "right" thing to find the answer.

Rickki


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## ChristieAcres

Here is a thought...shell a small amount, steam them, and try with a little butter. If they taste okay to you? I'd shell them, steam/cook/seal & freeze. After you have confirmed they taste okay to you? Drying seems like another alternative. I have never dehydrated the older ones, just the younger ones after blanching/steaming. Yes, I hear you on getting the right answer on google... there are those times you get an answer you don't expect, with the right one, that will surprise you.


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## Callieslamb

If they are beyond eating yourself - shell them and can the beans for chili, etc. If they aren't quite beyond the pale for eatting - cut them smaller.


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## Paquebot

At this point, they become a shelly bean. Too mature to eat as a snap bean and not dry enough for a true soup bean. But that's where they are best used, in soup. Shell them out, soak overnight so that all have the same degree of moisture, and cook them. Don't try to dry them or you'll risk molding. Also, some snap beans do not cook up well when re-hydrated.

Martin


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## mammabooh

I like to boil them, drain, and then fry them in butter. A few minutes before serving, I add some milk and cook until it is curdled. I think the milk helps to soften them, but I'm not sure. Whatever it is, they are very yummy.


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## Terri

My MIL the depression child called these "shelly beans". I am assuming the pods have not yet turned yellow? 

She would snap the small beans just like you normally would, and shell out the large ones into the same pot, and cook them up with a little ham or bacon. I have had them and they are good!

Because the shelled out beans are still tender and full of moisture, they cook in about 20 minutes. Everything tasted like string beans cooked with ham!


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## wyld thang

My Victory Garden cookbook calls them "shell beans" (the book is from the show a long time back). Yes, you use them just as you would dry beans, they just take much less time to cook. 

If you want to can make a child do this with them
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2329642&l=cb5c213b7e&id=616102765


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## Danaus29

Mmmmm, shelly beans! I've got some Royal Burgundy that are at the shelly stage. You can cook them in soup like dried beans, can them with green beans (that's how my grandma used hers, in green beans and vegetable soup), cook them with ham and freeze them. So many uses, such a short cooking time.


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## mommagoose_99

Use them as shell beans, great in chili. Don't even try to feed them to the chickens. We had a bushel of them and hubby wasted them on the chickens. They would not touch them although our goat ate a few.
Linda


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## countrysunshine

I just mix shell outs w/ regular beans as I can them and cook them like green beans - w/bacon and onion.


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