Vegetable
Blue Lake
S tier
Blue Lake is the classic American round-pod snap bean—dark green, meaty, originally a pole type later adapted to bush—for canning, freezing, and fresh market. Flavour is full grassy-bean rather than ultra-delicate filet. Pods are thicker than haricots verts and hold up to longer Southern-style cooks. Steam, casserole with mushroom soup nostalgia, or freeze blanched cuts. Stringlessness in modern Blue Lake lines made them a home-garden staple. Harvest before seeds bulge for best quality.
Track this ingredient
Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
Grading systems
Grades are placed along a shared scale so systems can be compared side by side.
History
Blue Lake pole beans from the Pacific Northwest gained fame for canning quality.
Bush Blue Lake types extended the name to mechanical harvest and home gardens.
Frozen and canned green beans were widely Blue Lake genetics.
Blue Lake remained the default American garden snap bean name.