Green Beans — season, tips, and recipes in New Zealand
Green Beans is a vegetables available in New Zealand during November, December, January, February, March, peaking in December, January, February. This page is a practical guide for home cooks: when to buy green beans, how to pick a good one, how to store it, what it goes well with, three original recipes, and detailed nutrition information.
Runner and climbing beans do well throughout NZ. One of the most productive crops per square metre at home.
How to pick a good one
Should snap cleanly when bent. If they bend without breaking, they're old. Slim, firm, no visible seeds bulging.
How to store it
Fridge in paper bag, 4-5 days. Blanch and freeze for longer.
Goes well with
garlic: Garlic's savoury glutamates provide the flavour structure that beans' mild flavour lacks. Most good green bean dishes have garlic in them.
almond: Green beans with toasted almonds provides textural contrast -- crisp nut, tender bean -- and flavour contrast: mild vegetable against rich nut. Green beans amandine exists because this pairing works consistently.
lemon: Acid brightens beans' green flavour. A squeeze of lemon after cooking makes beans taste freshly cooked rather than boiled.
sesame: Sesame's rich, slightly bitter nuttiness contrasts with green beans' mild sweetness. A common combination in Japanese and Korean cooking.
bacon: Smoked pork fat is savoury enough to make green beans interesting as a side dish. The fat also carries the vegetable's mild aroma compounds, amplifying both.
Recipes
Green Bean & Almond Salad
Crunchy, nutty, goes with everything.
Ingredients: 300g green beans, 2 tbsp flaked almonds (toasted), 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, salt
Method: Blanch beans 3 min until bright green. Drain, cool. Toss with toasted almonds, oil, lemon, salt.
Sesame Green Beans
Asian-style side. 5 minutes.
Ingredients: 300g green beans, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 clove garlic (minced), 1 tsp sesame seeds
Method: Stir-fry beans in a hot pan 4 min. Add garlic, soy, sesame oil. Toss. Sprinkle seeds.
Green Beans with Bacon
The crowd-pleaser.
Ingredients: 300g green beans, 4 rashers bacon (diced), 1 clove garlic, squeeze lemon
Method: Blanch beans 3 min. Fry bacon until crispy. Add garlic, cook 30 sec. Toss with beans. Squeeze lemon.
Nutrition
One cup of green beans provides 25% of your daily vitamin C, 20% of your vitamin K, and 15% of your folate. Good source of silicon, a mineral important for bone and connective tissue health. About 31 calories per cup. One of the few vegetables with meaningful amounts of silicon.