When To Harvest Fire Tongue Beans?

I purchased some rather large Fire Tongue Bean plants from Lowe's with beans already on them. I have two questions:

1) can these bean be eaten pods and all, or do they need to be shelled.

2) how do you know when its time to harvest them? and can they be stored for more than a day until you have enough to make a decent meal?

Thanks for any info you guys can give me

I guess no one else is growing these?

I'm guessing you're growing a borlotto type bean, perhaps like the ones we carry at Gourmet Seed International.
see: http://www.gourmetseed.com/category/gourmet_seed.vegetable_seed.bean___bush_shelling/
If so, they are primarily used for the seeds inside for soups, stews, etc, and not normally eaten whole like green beans. In theory, you could pick them very young and use them like green beans, but even then they can be potentially stringy. You can use the beans once the pods have the distinctive color you see on our site for fresh use in your favorite soup. They can also be dried for later use, like many other beans. Hope this helps.
Phil

thanks! another question.. how long do they keep in the fridge? i dont have enough at one picking to do much with, so obviously I have to save until I do.

If we're talking about Dragon Tongue beans:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pkNNdMsjjng9ag7LtdI44Q

Then you can pick them when the pods are about 6 inches long and the beans inside have not swelled so much that they are bulging.

The first picking will be small, but then you will have your hands full in no time.

They keep fresh in the fridge for a few days while you are waiting for more to pick. I pick them when they are tender and the beans are not swelled too much. I steam them for a few minutes (unfortunately the purple streaks go away) and eat them whole. Love em!!

Fire Tongue is different than Dragon Tongue, I believe. It's a shelly, also pole habit. Might be a bush "equivalent" for it out there somewhere, dunno.

This message was edited May 28, 2009 11:19 PM

I have FireTongue, not Dragon Tongue. They are a shelling bean, or so I've been told. I guess I'll just keep picking to encourage more beans and eventually, I'll have enough for a meal. :)

I've never known when to pick shelling beans because conventional wisdom is keep picking while the pods are tender to keep the plant producing. So I guess you have to grow a LOT of plants of the shelling beans since they're gonna 'quit' after you let the beans mature on the vine.

Fire Tongue ( or as the Italians call them 'Lingua di Fuoco' ) do come in both pole and bush. We also carry an organic version of the bush type. Usually, once the crop really gets coming, they can be quite productive. Not sure of the strain you may have gotten.
Phil
Gourmet Seed International