Dragon's Tongue

 They look like Easter or some women's tea party bean don't they? Pretty in pink I'd say and yes, not every one of these beauty's in the photo is a Dragon Tongue for you bean connoisseurs can see one imposter in there but hey, I'm in a rush to get things done. Looks like the weatherman has changed his mind again and we are forecast today to get not .06 inches of rain but .93 and those temperatures he was warming up must have been wishful thinking because we are back down to freezing for tomorrow night and the next with just 40's in the daytime. Plus that snow forecast they took away is back in a greater measure. He hasn't a clue. 

I was watching our youngest granddaughter all day yesterday, 'she is a cutey paooty', and then of course church activities in the evening for the kiddos who stay here. That means putting the pedal to the medal today on getting the garden stripped, in the rain if necessary.  I figured when I picked these Dragon's Tongue that I had better make shell beans of them. There is no way they will make dried bean stage and they were past the fresh eating phase.

Dragon's Tongue is our children's favorite bean for fresh eating especially just picked from the garden to munch on. When canned it looks kind washed out, blah and not as appetizing as the traditional bean of that is my opinion anyway. I've grown these beans many times but never have I been able to get them to reach the dried bean stage.

So as a last hurrah, I used up the last of my seed and our kids can grow them if they wish since they are all grown up now.

We ate some fresh and then I let the rest of the Dragon's tongue beans go develop to the shell stage. I had three other fresh beans going with two kinds on a trial basis so I wasn't in great need of fresh beans. 

The bean in the photo on the right is fresh stage and the one on the left is shell. 
 

As a shell bean when blanched, they are gorgeous in looks but how will they taste? We shall see as I chose to blanch for 3 minutes and then freeze this time instead of can because there were so few. I've never frozen shell beans. I've never done much of anything with the shell stage. In fact, I'd never even heard of shelled beans until a few years ago. There apparently is a whole different taste to them. Since the dried bean varieties I have chosen can be eaten fresh, shelled, or dried; I may just have to try each variety at all of those stages. You never know what the weather will bring. The Weather Channel said we are going to experience temperatures to 25 degrees lower than normal this week. 

Many believe the weather will become more unpredictable in the years to come. The scriptures foretell of it and it is a no brainer that the earth has weather cycles. We had far more snow in my grandmothers childhood than in mine or my children's. A mini ice age may be around the corner. It has happened before why would it not happen again? Or on the flip side, the earth may experience a global drought. Change is inevitable. I just figure we had better change with it and not get stuck thinking beans can only be eaten dry and green.