Row after row of bamboo wigwams with the beans swarming all over them, this is a veritable bean forest.
Just how many tons of beans do they produce? All that picking, stringing, cutting and slicing and at the end of it something that tastes of, well, not a lot.
If you add some butter and black pepper that helps, the boss and I reckon cold with a vinaigrette dressing is best. However, people buy them by the pound, or the ton and the longer they are the better. For us this is a case where small is better, not those stringy old long beans.
Picking them must be the most dispiriting job of all. You get to the end of the row and they are growing so fast that it looks as if you haven't even picked any. If you went to sleep in there they'd strangle you within the period of forty winks.
So, french beans and broad beans rule, not forgetting fresh peas too.