I assume you are going from the boiling water right into ice water, right? Blanching requires the ice water dip to stop the cooking. Then you drain them out of the iced water and dry them. I've done the spread them out on a paper or dish towel but the salad spinner works best IME. I stick a paper towel in the spinner with them to absorb more moisture. I don't think there is anyway to prevent ALL ice crystals. Laying out for a bit, sure. But if you leave them laying out in the air for very long you are just inviting more bacterial contamination. Dave

Zeedman, thanks so much for the post. I just came back from harvesting 5 lbs of Garafal Oros after reading your post. I thought I had read that you use them as shellies, but now i understand that it is in the context of using any beans as shellies. You sent some soisson verts but I have not found a spot for them yet. We had the chance to pickle a few and have not frozen any yet. We have not tasted the pickles yet (waiting the two weeks) so i will report when I do. We pickled 4 or 5 types of snaps to be able to compare. Do the Garafal Oros freeze well? As far as taste, it is very good but I prefer the texture of the kentucky wonders. They do get huge though! while the KW have to be harvested small. I should give a report on them in my climate. Southern Cal, elevation about 1,400 feet, foot hills of the San Gabriels. I split what you sent in two parts and sent half to my dad in Tarragona (Spain). I think they are doing better for me though. Since they came from an northern gardener and I wanted to avoid mongrelization to save seed, I put them in their own bed in partial shade/sun. The bed is made of recycled lumber, it is almost a terrace-bed since we have a slight slope all over the property. I chose to put them (and the red scarlet runners on another bed) on the side (long lot) so they get more shade from the two houses. They get full sun but less hours, and some of the beans are shaded by the others. I built a trellis from branches that joins on top, it looks like how a kid would draw a boat. In the middle we use the bean foliage to extend growing season for carrots and potatoes. So it is the 'bean-carrot-potato boat'. Size is 5 feet by about 9 feet. The trellis is over 8 feet tall. I will try to post a pict. They are extremely productive and pretty healthy looking. Some yellow leaves at the bottom, which i feel is normal, some stink bug damage, something eating some holes in some leaves, but over all, pretty healthy (I use nothing at all and just water with soaker hose). Right now I have a bunch of baby carrots growing in the middle. I had to get the 8 foot ladder to pick them this morning, which brought a seed saving question. I did leave some healthy looking pods for seed. Would there be any disadvantage to leaving the higher growing ones for seed? I am asking in terms of both genetics and to keep the plants producing. What about early and late arriving pods? Does it make a difference? As far as the other beens I have right now (no longer peas or favas) for the common beans we have a few KW, purple peacock, Gold of Bacau. Not sure if any of them is good for shellies, we would only have enough of the Gold of Bacau though. I also have purple hull cow peas (still growing) and two kinds of limas, but we have long springs so they are just now starting to flower. I planted the limas and cow peas too soon, i should have planted more common beans, let them run their course and then put the limas and cow peas. Next year.... We also have Insuk Wang Kong (red scarlet runners) that have had a very productive spring after taking forever to get going. I noticed some pods were not filling out so i wanted to taste some as shellies and dried beans. I quit picking. I know this is going to stop the plant, but I can start it again in the cool side of fall. Also, I wanted to get a bunch of seed. Thanks for the tip on the nitrogen. I suppose I should prune perennial beans?

Wertach - LOL! I just made a recipe of hummus out of black beans (canned for first try - next time will soak, cook, mush). The flavor of black beans instead of garbanzos was fabulous! And fortunately we both eat them... :) I will try the cranberry beans - they were common in New England produce sections years ago - love the flavor. Zeedman - thank you - I hope you find your notes. I love reading your descriptions of different beans. You're so dedicated. :) I'm excited that I can grow limas here - tho my Fordhooks are not doing so well this year - but they are blooming again, so maybe our lower temps are agreeable with them. I used to garden in Mass. and grew limas one year with much coddling (raised beds, what are now called low tunnels...). Perhaps the shell beans would do well planted in late March/April - my bush beans did amazingly well this March. I will search the two sources you mentioned - I'm finding beans to be more addictive than any other veggie. HappyDay - The Birds Egg3 - how would I ask to trial some seeds? I'm unclear on how one gets involved. That thread is what really motivated my questions. Runner beans - I will go read. I would love a bean that would regrow. And I have some questions on beans that were supposed to be "bush" that found a trellis and decided to become pole beans... but that's another thread. Thank you - I'll definitely pick up some cranberry beans. And search for more options. The challenge for me is to keep enough space to grow all the other veggies without having to dig up and fence more space.

I can't speak about the shelly stage. For dry bean seeds, wait until the leaves turn brown and perhaps fall off.