Green beans

[pacanis]

I love green beans. More specifically any style of canned Del Monte, but the past couple of years I've been buying fresh out of the bin or at roadside stands and cooking those. They have to be better for you than canned I figured. They come out just ok. Very edible, but nothing to rave about for as much as I like green beans and other fresh, green vegetables.
This past week I noticed some prepackaged green beans..... triple washed, trimmed, and darker looking than the typical fresh beans I've boughten in the past. Not organic or anything, but they sure looked like a higher quality bean. I bought 'em.
I cooked some last night and can't believe how good they were, and how good they looked, too. Nice and dark and shiny, just like in pictures I've seen.

So, is their really a difference? Does anyone know why these prepackaged ones would be so much better than other fresh green beans? For just a little more per lb than the ones in the bin (this time of year anyway), I just can't believe there's that much of a difference in the quality, but I'm in love with a "new" food

[Bilby]

Don't know the situation your way but it may just be that the roadside stands are just selling their surplus which may be of an inferior quality. (Not sure what you mean by "out of the bin". To me, that says it is from rubbish bin, which I assume is not your intention!) Also consider where the beans are grown and the type of bean. Over here most of our best quality produce (in general) is used for the export market, not domestic. We pay top dollar for good produce and the only real way to save money and not scrimp on vast difference in quality is to go direct to the grower. But even that is no guarantee.

[GB]

In addition to what Billby said, it might also just be a case of what you are used to. Canned and fresh green beans taste very different IMO. If you have been eating the canned your whole life and enjoying them then maybe you are just not familiar with the fresh taste.

[pacanis]

By out of the bin I meant it sits there loose for the consumer to pick out what they want... as opposed to selling it already packaged. Most of our vegetables and fruits over here are sold that way... you can buy one potato, or a bag of them, one tomoato, or a package of them, and of course, a handfull of green beans, or a package of them as I did.
You are right. Going directly too the source/grower is no guarantee. I had thought that by buying them directly from a farmer's roadside stand I would get a better bean, you sure get better corn on the cob... and I've even had people with gardens bring me green beans, but there's just no comparison to these ones I just bought. It almost seems like a fluke. Maybe they are a "higher end" bean, but I didn't know there were different grades of green beans

[Bilby]

Different grades of everything. Do you know that in Perth we make an icecream (or used to at any rate) that was so creamy and fresh.. and we couldn't buy it in Perth in that format. Move to Japan and we could. The one they sold us in Perth was much less "special". I worked for the transport firm that shipped them out and got to try the export version and it turned me off of the domestic version for several years, it was soo good.

Also some of the contracts the big shops have direct with the suppliers also demand a certain level of quality, and because they have the contract, the supplier bends over backwards to meet that standard, sometimes eating into his bottom line. The little producers on the other hand don't have the guaranteed income and so can't afford to compete with the same level of investment in the product. Doesn't always mean that their product is of a poor quality but that the market place has moved and they can't compete, or at least not as successfully.

Just some other thoughts.

[pacanis]

Yeah... it has to be that they are a different grade. I guess just like restaurants supposedly get a higher quality steak than we can buy, unless maybe we buy from one of those steak houses. I didn't realize it carried into something as plain as green beans, but I'm glad I found out! I remembered that they did have a lot more liquid in them. After I dumped out the water and added the olive oil and butter to them, the pot filled right up again with liquid. Almost as if I never dumped the cooking water out.

[Michael in FtW]

There are different varieties of green beans - some are pole beans, some are bush beans, some are hybrids and some are heirlooms varieties. Of course growing conditions can make a difference, too.

[jennyema]

Are they thin? Then they're probably haricot verte or "French" green beans.

They are the only pre-packaged green beans I've ever seen in the store.

[BreezyCooking]

I think I know the prepackaged green beans you're talking about. They started showing up at supermarkets around here last year. Come in 3 types - all green, all yellow wax (a BIG & welcome surprise, since no one EVER sells yellow wax beans around here unless they're canned, which I HATE), & a green & yellow wax combo.

The beans are lovely, very high grade & fresh, & last for quite awhile in the fridge if you can't cook them right away.

[Uncle Bob]

Do they have a name or brand name on the package? Who packages them? Just curious.