Baby Purple French Beans
Estimated Inventory, lb : 0
Description/Taste
Baby Purple French beans are long and narrow with an attractive dark purple exterior tint. For best flavor and texture they should be picked when they are four inches in length or shorter. Their interior is vibrant green and contains a few petite, soft seeds or immature beans. Offering a vegetal flavor with a just right hint of sweetness, their crisp texture is best only lightly cooked. The color of baby Purple French beans comes from plant pigments called anthocyanins. Once fully cooked the color of the beans will change from purple to a muted green. Quickly blanching can help preserve some of the purple color as well as some of the nutrients. Beans can also be picked when young and tender and served raw to preserve their vibrant purple hue. When buying beans look for pods that have a velvety feel and are free of bruises, pods should also snap when you bend them.
Seasons/Availability
Baby Purple French beans are available in the summer and early fall months.
Current Facts
Baby Purple French beans, botanically known as part of Phaseolus vulgaris, are classified as an edible pod bean or green bean. Depending upon variety pod beans such as the baby Purple French can be grown either as a climbing pole bean or a dwarf bush bean. There are hundreds of varieties of green beans on the market today. Even types that start out yellow or purple and then turn green when cooked, as in the case of the baby Purple French bean, are still considered a green bean type culinarily because they are consumed at a “green” or immature stage. Today one of the most popular beans on the market, green beans have gotten a bad rap flavor wise in recent years as many supermarket found strains are bred to withstand travel and storage which can impact flavor and texture significantly. Varieties such as the baby Purple French that are most commonly found in gardens, small farms and farmers markets are a treat for the palate and a reminder of what a classic green bean should taste like.
