Added Varieties Make Green Beans a Delight

Do you equate the ubiquitous green bean with the limp, sliced vegetable mixed with canned mushroom soup and topped with slivered almonds? If so, your taste buds may be in for a surprise.

Today, green beans come in a kaleidoscope of colors, including yellow, purple, and the mottled, exotically named dragon tongue. Perhaps one of the most delicate varieties is the shoelace-thin French haricots verts, long a French staple, whose rise in popularity is due to upscale American chefs. Mexicans know the tender bean, also called string bean, or snap bean, as ejote . All are grown in the North County.

Along with the common blue lake--the one casseroles are made of--Joe Ramos sells exotic varieties such as the chic haricots verts, and the yellow wax bean. The 42-year resident of North County surveys his 38 acres in Vista with the eyes of a seasoned rancher.

What Ramos is most excited about are his green beans. “We can grow haricots verts year-round here,” said Ramos, who replants a quarter acre with the gourmet bean every two weeks.

“The only problem we have is with the rabbits. They love beans, especially the haricots verts,” Ramos said. The freshly picked bean yields a crisp, sweet taste, addictive to humans as well as rabbits.

Like many gourmet vegetables, haricots verts are labor-intensive. Farmers must pick them daily to send to market. At the Ramos stand on Vista Way, they can be picked on request.

Not only have North County beans come a long way, they also go a long way.

John Llano, a Colombian-born grower and broker based in San Marcos, says half his business is out-of-state. “The market for specialty beans is becoming very competitive,” he says. “The most popular one is still the haricots verts.”

Llano also produces yellow and purple wax beans and dragon tongue.

To ensure a steady supply, Llano grows in the Maneadero Valley south of Ensenada as well as in North County.

He ships daily out of his San Marcos warehouse, where stacks of boxes wait to be transported to the airport. Inside each box lie layers of the hand-picked and hand-packed haricots verts, stems all pointing in the same direction.

Andrea Peterson of Peterson & Pio Specialty Produce in Fallbrook, waxes poetic about her organically grown yellow wax beans. “I like to eat them raw, right out of the box,” she says.

For Peterson, the benefits of growing beans are twofold. “Not only do they taste wonderful,” she says, they “are good to the earth. They fix nitrogen to the soil.” She uses them as a rotation between other crops.

Yellow wax beans appeal to the specialty market, as does the burgundy, a purple variety that she ships to the East Coast in hand-packed containers. The deep purple burgundy, like the purple wax bean, turns to a dark green when cooked.

To prepare fresh beans, snap off the top or stem ends and any “string” will pull off automatically. Serve cooked beans hot or in cold salads. Don’t overcook them, or the flavor will suffer.

* Jose Ramos, 2461 East Vista Way, Vista, 92083 (across from Exotica Nursery). 941-1387, evenings. Phone orders accepted. Stand open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Sunday. Yellow wax beans cost about $1 a tray. Also at Vista Farmer’s Market.

* John C. Llano, grower-shipper-broker, San Diego Specialty Produce, P.O. 947, San Marcos, 92069. 471-6037. Wholesale only.

* Peterson & Pio Specialty Produce, 439-6466. Sells to the trade and at the Vista Farmer’s Market. Yellow wax and purple beans about $1 per pound package at market.