I love growing pole beans in my garden. They're pretty, they're easy, and they produce insane amounts of food in a small space. My favorite variety is 'Kentucky Wonder.' It is an early producer, and the beans are stringless, which is great because my kids like to snack on them right in the garden, and I don't have to worry about strings. Come to think of it, I like to snack on them, too. They are absolutely delicious.
But we've reached that point in the season where we've done more than enough snacking, and we've had green beans with dinner most nights of the week. Time to start putting beans up for the winter.
My preferred method for storing beans is to freeze them. This is easily done by picking and trimming your beans, then dropping them into a pot of boiling water for about three minutes to blanch them. Remove them from the pot and toss them into a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking any further. Drain them well, and freeze them either in freezer bags or plastic freezer containers. I love putting them in soups and stews all winter long. And they retain that green-bean-fresh flavor this way, too.
Another great way to preserve your beans is to make Dilly Beans. They're simple to make, and an absolutely addictive snack.
So, that's what I'm doing with my beans. How do you deal with a bean glut?
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Good for you, the pole beans haven’t done much of anything the last 2 years in the Pacific NW. It was Mid September before they did anything last year and they have produced very few beans yet this year. The bush beans have done fine both years.