Beans

There are only a handful of truly worthy perennial vege crops – rhubarb, bramble berries and strawberries being the others – but when ‘Scarlet Runner’ vines are at the peak of their game, they are unbeatable. From a packet of Italian ‘Borlotti Fire Tongue’ beans (Kings Seeds), Lynda Hallinan harvested two bucketloads of speckled pods and ended up with 2kg of dried beans. Winged beans [aka asparagus pea] are one of the famous ulam (generic name for fresh vege eaten raw) of Malaysia. This nutritious vegetable can be eaten raw or cooked. Nigel Tan, Auckland