I came across a package of Asparagus Bean seeds I’d forgotten about and had no room for. I popped a few seeds into a potted jasmine container and forgot about them. On a drive-by watering a week or so ago, I thought I saw some green yarn tangled in the plant, but found instead that these bright green, very long, skinny beans were growing through the jasmine.
In rereading the package, I learned that they will grow to 3 feet long if you want to harvest the bean from the pod, but to eat like a regular snap bean, you harvest them at 12-15 inches long, braid them and steam them for an unusual presentation. Once they pop out, they seems to grow about 4″ a day.
They are funny looking, but fun. The flavor, so says the package, is like a mix between asparagus, mushrooms and beans. I stir-fried some and it was good, but I didn’t really detect 3 flavors. I am still amused that it is like eating a shoestring-licorice style vegetable.
This reminds me of the very familiar phrase -“bloom where you are planted.” Isn’t this a wonderful parrallel for us as Christians. Even amidst a not so desirable location, an unusual environment, last to be put out, it still chose to grow for the good of what it was made to be because someone, you, benefits from the fruit it brings.
I must not forget this. No matter my circumstances it is still to my Father’s glory that I bear much fruit. (John 15:8)
Do you eat those with corn bread?