When your green beans start getting bumpy and the seeds overgrow in the fall, don’t despair! It means that shelly bean season has finally arrived!
Rattlesnake bean that looks like its ready to eat as a shelly bean, but isn’t. They have been selectively bred to stay sweet even when they grow big and get lumpy. The seeds stay small until just before they get mature and ready to dry, so catching rattlesnake beans at the green shell stage is hard.
While shell beans are common in the South, many Northerners are not familiar with shellies, and that is a shame, because they are delicious. And if you happen to be a vegetarian, green shell beans are something you really ought to add to your legume repertoire.
Shelly beans are between a green snap bean and a dried soup bean. They have other names, depending on where you live. You might call them green shells, shelling beans, October beans, shellies, shuckies, or fall beans. If your local farmers market doesn’t have them, ask if they would consider bringing you some overgrown beans, or growing some next year. Otherwise, you might have to grow some yourself, because they are very much worth it.
Most green beans can be eaten at the green shell stage, but some are better than others. When you are buying seeds, look for beans that say they are good shelling beans. Many varieties are good both as snap beans and shelling beans, or as shelling beans and dried soup beans, but not usually as all three: snap, shelling and soup.
Turkey Craw beans ready for green shelling. The ones toward the bottom need a few more days to puff and ripen, but the ones at the top are ready to pick.
How can you tell when your beans are at the shelling stage? Its pretty easy, because that stage lasts a while. First, the beans will get lumpy, and maybe stringy. If your beans are getting tough, starchy and stringy, give them a week or so to transform into shellies.
“October” variety of beans, ready to pick. The grasshoppers got to them, but the seeds inside were pretty much fine,
Look for beans that have dramatic lumps. They should feel like the pod has air puffing them between the large seeds, and you can feel the seeds easily in the pods. These can be picked now, right up until the bean pods feel fuller with less air and fatter beans, and the outsides feel like suede. Beans will often stay at the green shell stage for two weeks or more, so there is plenty of time. You can pick only as much as you need for a meal, and leave the rest for another day or two and not miss shelly season.
“October” variety of green shell bean on the left, and the same variety completely dry and ready for storage on the right.
What’s so great about shellies? Well, the most important thing is their taste. If you don’t like dried beans, you might find that you do like green shelled beans, but if you like pulses already, you will simply fall in love with green shells. They have more taste as green shells than they do after drying and re-hydrating and cooking. Their texture is nicer too— firm and tender at the same time. And, because they still have all their moisture, they don’t need a presoak or precook like dried beans. Even the larger beans can be simmered for 40 minutes or less and they are done! And because green shells hold their forms even when they are well cooked, you can cook various sizes of green shell beans together and they will look and taste great without mushing together.
Lazy Wife beans are an exception to the rule. They are actually good as snap beans, very good shelling beans and tasty as dried soup beans. The chickens in the background are waiting for me to drop the basket so they can swoop in and gobble all my beans. Too bad for them, I had a firm grip.
To pick shellies, scissors are handy. The beans want to stay on the vine at this point, and pulling the pods off can pull up the vine or break it so that beans further down the vine die rather than ripen. Snipping them off with scissors is the way to go.
“Cherokee trail of tears” beans are big, purple beauties when picked as shelling beans, rather than the black they will be when fully dried.
Once you have enough picked, find a good spot to shell your beans. The chicken yard is optimal, because the chooks love the empty pods, and are thrilled when a bean gets away from me and they can steal a treat.
I find that green shell beans are a little harder to shell than peas or dried beans, but you won’t need a lot for a meal. You can use the point of your scissors to start a slit on an edge of your pod, or just use your fingernail to get them open. Even if the pod looks bitten, most of the seeds inside are usually fine. Toss away any individual seeds that have a ‘scorch mark’. This is actually usually from a grasshopper nibbling on the bean, and that particular seed will be bitter, but the rest in the pod will be fine if they are not discolored.
These greasy grits beans were very prolific. Too stringy and tough as snaps, but very good as shellies and dried beans. And they were very easy to shell, as you can see from that one on the far left that pulled open as I was picking them, they popped open very easily!
Once you have your green shell beans shelled, you can use them like you would soaked and partially cooked dried beans. Think soup, baked beans, and all that good stuff. But shell beans are more versatile than dried beans, so don’t limit them to mushy foodstuffs, they can also be used as star performers. I like to simmer shell beans for about 20 minutes, or until the largest ones taste cooked but not mushy. Then, cook some bacon, and quickly fry some drained shell beans in the fat. Add some fresh or canned tomatoes, without the juice, some summer savory, and then the bacon chopped and stirred back in. Salt and pepper to taste, and serve with some fresh crusty bread and butter (to sop up any juice from the beans of course!), chunky home made applesauce and maybe a little slice of good white cheddar.
Shelly bean hummus is great too, with a flavor that is fresher than you get with canned beans. Cook your shelled beans until tender, then puree them in a food processor or just mash them really well with lemon, garlic, tahini, olive oil and salt.
In many of the northern states, the gardens have been put to bed, but even up here there are still a few surprises to be had, and still fresh, local food to enjoy. Some of us still have beans on the vine, just waiting for use as shellies. Raw green shelled beans freeze well too, so keep an eye out for green shell beans, or ask around and see if you can get some. Use some now and freeze some for later. You’ll be happy you did. You can eat your shellies and dream that you are in the sweet South, where winter doesn’t overstay its welcome, has a gentler touch and better manners.