I have some beans, Runner Beans, and I read on a thread here a while ago that you can eat the actual beans, not just the green immature pods - that was news to me. So, having the usual glut, we've eaten some at the delicious small green stage, we've salted some, and now we have large beans that are dried in their cases that I will store. But we also have some that are too big to eat as green beans but not dried out on the plant. I want to pick them now as there are still lots of flowers and I'd like the green beans to go on for as long as possible.

So I'm wondering if these will make edible beans or do they need to reach the dried-in-the-pod stage? That's actually a general bean question. Do they have to dry down completely or can you use the bean-seed when the pod is still at green stage?

You can definitely eat them now! They're called "shelly beans" at that stage, and there are tons of recipes all over the web. I think Scarlet Runners are actually at their most delicious as shelly beans.

Thanks Zoe that's cool. And if by chance we don't eat all the shellys right now, can I still dry them and store them in jars for winter?

Hmmm, I am not sure...why not try a few? I might try to freeze them, kind of like edamame. But if they dried fine, that would be cool to know!

Alison, I've picked fully mature pods, dried them in a single-ish layer somewhere dark, then shelled.
I always leave the shelled beans in a paper bag for ages to make sure they're totally dry.
Runner beans make great dried beans. I've got one that has beautiful white beans, similar to a gigantic haricot.