Gadenin日本語Get the appThree inches, and the wings still soft
The window on a winged bean pod is narrower than on any common bean. Pick at about 3 inches (8 cm), when the pod is bright, the four frilled wings running down its length are soft enough to fold between finger and thumb, and the surface squeaks slightly against a fingernail. At that stage it snaps cleanly, tastes of asparagus and green bean together, and needs nothing but a quick cook.
Left another week the same pod is 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) long, the wings have gone leathery and papery at the frill, and the whole thing is inedible fiber no matter how long you cook it. This happens fast in hot weather, sometimes in four days. There is no rescuing an overgrown pod for the table; the only use left is seed.
| Pod stage | Test | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Under 2 inches (5 cm) | Wings barely formed | Leave it a day or two |
| About 3 inches (8 cm) | Wings fold softly, pod squeaks, snaps wet | Prime. Pick now |
| 4 to 5 inches (10 to 13 cm) | Wing edges starting to feel dry | Last chance. Use today, sliced thin |
| Over 6 inches (15 cm) | Bends rather than snaps, seeds bumping | Fiber. Leave for seed or compost |
Pick every two days once it starts
Once flowering begins the plant produces in waves, and a two-day picking round is the minimum in warm weather. Every pod you leave to fill tells the vine that seed has been set and slows the next flush, so take off the overgrown ones as well even though they are heading for the compost.
Cut or snip rather than pull. Winged bean flower clusters carry several pods at different stages on a short stalk, and tugging one ripe pod off one-handed usually takes the immature ones and the remaining buds with it.
- Pick in the morning Pods are turgid and squeak at dawn and limp by mid-afternoon. Morning-picked pods also keep a day or two longer in the fridge.
- Snip, holding the cluster Support the flower cluster with one hand and cut the pod stalk with the other. What is left behind on that stalk is your next picking.
- Look up through the vine Pods hang inside the canopy and against the netting. Crouch at the base and look up before you decide a plant is picked over.
- Strip the ones you missed Anything past three days over is not food, but leaving it on costs you the next flush. Take it off and compost it.
Keep a note of the date of the first flower and the date of the first pod worth eating. On a short-day type those two dates tell you next year, before you sow, whether your season is long enough or whether you need an early type.
The rest of the plant is food too
Very little of a winged bean is wasted. The young leaves and the tender growing shoot tips cook like spinach and can be picked from mid-season onwards; taking the tips is also how you keep the vine branching. The flowers are eaten raw or lightly fried and turn a dish a distinct blue-green when cooked. The mature dried seed can be roasted, though it needs proper cooking and is not eaten raw.
Harvest leaves and shoots lightly and evenly rather than stripping one section. Take the top two or three inches of a shoot with the youngest pair of leaves and move around the plant. If you are also growing for pods, keep leaf picking to a light weekly pass, because the pods are built out of what those leaves make.
| Part | When to take it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Young pods | At 3 inches (8 cm), every two days | The main crop. Wings must still be soft |
| Shoot tips and young leaves | Light weekly picking from mid-season | Cooks like spinach. Also encourages branching |
| Flowers | Fully open, before they fade | Every flower taken is one pod fewer |
| Mature seed | Pods brown, dry and rattling | Must be cooked thoroughly. Save the best for sowing |
| Tubers | After the top growth dies back | Only on plants left in the ground a full long season |
Digging the tuberous root
The plant swells starchy tubers on its roots, nutty in flavor and firmer than a potato, and they are the reason to leave a plant standing after the pods have finished rather than clearing it. Tubers bulk up late, so they need the plant to have run a full long warm season; a vine cut down early gives you nothing worth washing.
Wait until the top growth yellows and dies back, then loosen a wide circle with a fork well outside the crown and lift the whole root mass by hand. The tubers are small, often only 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 8 cm), and sit on lateral roots rather than under the stem, so digging straight down at the stem cuts through most of them. Wash, and store cool and just moist; they shrivel quickly in dry air.
Keeping the crop after picking
Fresh pods keep three or four days in the fridge in a loosely closed bag and no longer. They lose their squeak first and their snap second, and a pod that has gone flexible in the bag has already turned fibrous. Do not wash them until you cook them.
For longer keeping, blanch and freeze. Cut into short lengths, blanch two minutes, drop straight into iced water, dry thoroughly, freeze loose on a tray and then bag. Frozen raw they go gray and slimy. Leaves and shoot tips do not store at all and should be picked for the day you cook them.