Cookaholics Bulletin Board

For about two weeks now there've been no fresh green beans in the stores around here; only the pre-packaged beans.
What the heck? Is it just here or is is like this elsewhere?

We've had loose green beans, but they have been expensive. The TJs bagged beans are a reasonable price, but too many for just me and mom.

My grocery store switched over to bagged beans but they are in bags you can dump out if needed. I normally buy them at Costco anyway, they are great and we get through them no problem. The CI roasted green beans are great.

I asked the greengrocer at Albertson's near here (he's the most talkative one) and he said that blue lake beans have been unavailable this spring for some reason. Apparently whatever equitorial nation normally produces them in the winter isn't doing so this year.

I've been using the packaged beans since that's all I can find these days.
Been craving them. I cooked some in the pressure cooker Saturday with a can of Italian tomatoes, a clove of garlic, a sprig of basil and a bit of kosher salt; really good.

I've noticed the lack of fresh beans this spring, and figured that it must be something going on wherever they are produced in South America. Fortunately, I found about a dozen foodsaver bags of them in my freezer, when I cleaned it out. I don't cook these - I just add them to legume salads, and the blanching before freezing turns out to be just enough cooking for this.

Went looking for snow peas for stir fry but ended up with green beans which were crisp & delicious. Fresh pineapple is also good. It's a funny in between time at the market, stone fruits not quite peak & apples past. Thank goodness for the Salinas Valley which keeps the green coming but I'm looking forward to some local produce in the next month or two.

Plenty of loose green beans here in upstate NY but Cauliflower has been MIA since January and when we can find it, they're tiny heads and no less than $4.99 per. Strange times...

We are following upstate NY trends, apparently. Of course, the NY border is like 40 min drive from here, so that isn't entirely surprising (but that is VERY upstate...)

The green beans in our stores are not good, either. Couldn't even find some the other day. Got French Green Beans at Costco for a dinner party last night and made the Green Beans with Carmelized Pecans from Epicurious. Oh, my. They were delicious.