2026 Little Easy Bean Network – Plant A Garden, Water Your Soul, Join Our Family

[Blue-Jay]

So, bean terms.
I know what pole vs bush means of course, but does "snap" mean its more of a greenbean/pod eating while green type?
Does "dry" mean its the kind you dry and save to eat as beans in chillie ect?

Yes snap beans are the term for eating bean pods green as a vegetable. Many varieties these days are stringless. Long time ago green bean pods used to be called string beans. In some parts of the country some gardeners are still de-stringing their eatable pods. Dry beans are the kind you dry and make bean soup, baked beans or chilli from them.

 

[Greasy]

Yes snap beans are the term for eating bean pods green as a vegetable. Many varieties these days are stingless. Long time ago green bean pods used to be called string beans. In some parts of the country some gardeners are still de-stringing there eatable pods. Dry beans are the kind you dry and make bean soup, baked beans or chilli from them.

In the middle Appalachia Mountain's we want eat beans without strings, seals in the flavor lol. Don't believe me ask Paul Douglas famous cook book author.

 

[flowerbug]

and then there are also shelly beans, which are harvested plump in the shell before fully dried down, usually this also implies that the beans are easy to shell out at this stage. some lima beans are also really good at this stage.

 

[Rillowen]

Yes snap beans are the term for eating bean pods green as a vegetable. Many varieties these days are stingless. Long time ago green bean pods used to be called string beans. In some parts of the country some gardeners are still de-stringing there eatable pods. Dry beans are the kind you dry and make bean soup, baked beans or chilli from them.

Ok, so is there a term for the ones that can be both such as the red runner beans or are all "runner beans" that way? Also what happens if I try to dry and hull a snap bean and save it for chillie ect? Is it simply too small for efficiency?

 

[Rillowen]

In the middle Appalachia Mountain's we want eat beans without strings, seals in the flavor lol. Don't believe me ask Paul Douglas famous cook book author.

That's an interesting thoughts!
I remember sitting at the table and snapping/stringing the beans for supper. Are the stringless types GMO or hybrids then? Or are some just naturally that way?

 

[Rillowen]

and then there are also shelly beans, which are harvested plump in the shell before fully dried down, usually this also implies that the beans are easy to shell out at this stage. some lima beans are also really good at this stage.

Oooh, so how do I know the difference between a "dry" bean and a Shelly bean? What happens if I wait until a Shelly bean is dry before plucking?

 

[Blue-Jay]

Are the stringless types GMO or hybrids then? Or are some just naturally that way?

Stringless beans are not GMO. I don't know of any garden variety of beans that are GMO. I think mostly farm crops like corn and soybeans are probably Genetically modified for productivity. Stringless snap beans are naturally that way. Stringlessness was probably always part of beans. Some people just sought out those that were stringless and isolated them and grew them so they had the stringless characteritsic all the time.