Yard-long Beans

Today I harvested 4 different kinds of beans in the garden.  Clockwise from the bottom of the basket in the  picture are Kentucky Wonder pole beans, wax bush beans, Romano pole beans, and yard-long beans.  Also called asparagus beans, these asian beans vine like pole beans and produce long, thin, flexible pods that can grow up to 3 feet in length, but are tastiest when picket between 12 and 24 inches long.

The leaves grow in three's, just like normal beans, but they are narrower and a very dark green.  The pods form in pairs from a pale flower that forms on the end of a stem.  The plant is a prolific producer.  I found the seed at the Richmond Southern States on West Broad, and planted them in the same spot where I'd grown all those peas earlier in the season.

The long beans are chewier than regular green beans, and they are fantastic in a stir fry with other veggies.  Since we have a bunch of these in the fridge already, I decided to cook some yard-longs up for lunch today.

I chopped the beans into small pieces, less than an inch long, and boiled them in chicken broth for 5 minutes. In hindsight, this was an unnecessary step that I'll leave out next time.

I peeled and chopped 4 cloves of garlic.

Got oil hot in my wok.  I love my wok...it's seriously old-school, carbon steel.  You've got to season it just like a dutch oven.

I pulled a large green onion from the garden, and chopped it up while the oil heated.

Toss in the garlic.  Stir it a little, but on high heat it starts to brown right away.  Give it 45 seconds, and then toss in the onions to soak up the heat and keep the garlic from burning.

Stir the garlic and onions for a few minutes, and then add the beans.

Stir a few more minutes, then season with salt and pepper and plate it up.

Here's the finished product, with chopped peanuts on top.  It had good flavor, but I'd over-cooked the beans.  I wanted them a little firmer.  Still a tasty lunch, and I dish I will make again.

Ever had yard-long beans before?

Melons and the Summer Doldrums

Well, I'm back at home full-time, and back in the garden.  This was a harvest from over a week ago, probably the last really big harvest of the summer.  The peak of the tomato season is over.  Still plenty of fruit on the vines, but nothing like what it was 3 weeks ago.

The cabbages came in, and the banana melons are ripening one by one.

Some of them are really ugly on the outside, kinda twisted and gnarled-looking.

However, the insides are gorgeous, soft, and sweet.  They taste just like regular cantaloupe.

Last week I picked this monster banana melon.  My mother took a picture of me holding my baby.  Can you see the resemblance?

I sliced big boy open and attacked him with an ice cream scoop.  He produced about 2/3 gallon of ripe fleshy melon balls.  I was so proud.