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03 Sep 10 kathy anne greer (Australia - temperate climate)

I have beautiful broad beans growing ,they are flowering and look lovely but I have never grown them before and I keep looking for something, How do they become beans and from what? Is it the flower itself? , I know I seem silly but I do not know what to look for ... ha, ha apart from beans that is! thankyou kathy

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05 Sep 10 Michelle (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Yes, the beans come from the flowers. Keep an eye on them - you will notice a little tiny pod that looks like a pea pod coming from the bottom of the flower as it withers. The pods then grow quite fast. They are ready to pick whenever you are ready to eat them. You can actually pick them early (when ther are the size of your pinkie finger) and cook them whole as you would with green beans. However most people pick them when they are the thickness of a thumb, and about 2 times the length of a thumb, or even bigger (you will get bigger beans). Split open the pod, and extract the beans. They should look white. Blanch them for a minute in boiling water, and the white skin on the outside will go wrinkly. It's a simple matter of popping the green beans out of the white skins, and you are ready to eat them, or cook with them further. They are lovely in frittatas and risotto. Once the harvest is over, you can cut up the plants and plough them back into the soil as compost, or simply add them to your compost heap. That way the plant is useful twice. Good luck!

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