Hi there Paul im in Brissy and have also tryed doing the home grown /Pic & process of green bean thing. Iv got to say it is very time consuming and you dont get much for the labour you put in, but definatly worth doing for the pleasure of having given it a go .
As far as the picing thing only the berrys that have gorn Fire engine Red ,The deep red ones.
The processing is best done by poping the been from the berry first , then into a bucket of water , the ones that float discard.
let them sit in the bucket to ferment for what ever time you prefure .
I did mine for a week and put in some suger to help the process along ;D
The DRYING I just got a rolled out bit of rubber with the perferated holes ( the type you would put on the table for non slip , Looks like a table runer. Got it from bunnings for about $8 ...
Put my beans out (about 1.5kg worth ) in direct sunlight on the varanda , was about 36-38oC on the cement and 26oC day .
Left them there for about 9-10days ... Cracking the shells to have alook at them to check the colour . They need to be dryed enough so that 1. you cant see through them and 2.. that when you bite them they arent soft but drying longer doesent seem to hurt them. my last lot needed mor drying.. :-/
Over all im going to stick to buying them now .
All the best Michael


Leave a comment: