A few weeks ago we hosted a side by side sampling of all these beans. I thought it would be fun to see how different they actually tasted. Turns out, not that different. Well, no, a little bit different, and of course some are bigger and some are smaller and some are meatier and some are squishier. I wish I took a picture of the table with the full spread, but this is all I have.
The total yield for the year ended up being around 9 quarts of dry beans. That was from a few scarlet runner vines, four approximately 8 foot rows of bush beans (bumble bee and ireland creek annie), a bamboo teepee overrun with cherokee trail of tear black beans, a cucumber trellis with a few cherokee trail of tear black beans on it, and a 2-dimensional bamboo teepee of lazy housewife beans squeezed into a bed already full of zucchini, peppers and basil (but mostly zucchini, you know how that goes!)
I still love the scarlet runners. They are just so big and I love the texture. Not to mention the yield per one vine... tons! And they are so pretty soaking (below). But the black beans really did taste more flavorful and fresher to me than black beans you buy in the store. Hopefully this is the first of many more annual bean tastings! Grow some to bring and share next year...
