Lots of folks over in the beans forum grow Yardlong/asparagus beans. Personally to me it would be like comparing tomatoes and eggplants. Both are good in their place, but they are quite diferent plants. Yardlongs are great in stir fies and Asian type dishes, terrible when cooked as southern style green beans. They get mushy if cooked very long. They don't taste like asparagus either, but seem to remind some folks of the flavor of asparagus. They are a subspecies of southern pea, so if you have ever had the opportunity to eat southern peas with snaps ( immature pea pods cooked with the peas) or eaten in Chinese restaurants you can judge the taste for yourself.

I got tons of yard long beans off my vines last year. They taste okay but they don't have a real green bean taste. When you try to break them, they bend and don't snap. If you freeze them, when you cook them they are mushy.

Hey Diclemeg; I have a couple hundred varieties of beans bot fresh/dry. I grow several vars. of YLBeans as I use them when I am making Thai Food. They really don't taste that great by themselves.
If you want great tasting Green Beans you should try one of the many types of Greasy Beans as these have the best taste. Also here in CA i grow YLBeans inside Row covered cages as this bean gets infested with a black aphid that is never on anything else in my garden.
And there is also a bright Yellow aphid that only goes after "exotic's" of the milkweede family.

Zebraman,

Regarding the aphids.. do you have any trap flowers nearby? I have nasturtiums, marigolds, borage, fennel, etc, and have no aphid problem at all (but I did have a SVB problem).

I currently grow Blue Coco, and pick them small, and simmer them slowly for two hours in tomato sauce and eat them like pasta.

On the net I saw a few photos of the greasy beans... the pods look quite big, or maybe that is because they were mature.

How do you think both the greasy bean or the yard long bean would taste, cooked in the same manner in the tomato sauce ? I was drawn to the YL because of its length similar to spaghetti.

Today I picked a long bean, the logest so far, almost 30 inches long.That is the fun part of growing yard long beans to me. The variety that I have is called DOW GAUK.
I am not a big green beans fan so I decided to grow something exotic and differnt. Actually I prefer the texture and taste od YLB over regular green beans sold at the market. Long beans are sold for about 3 time the price of regular beans at Asian market. So why grow cheap beans when you can buy them.

Hey Diclemeg; No I don't have trap flowers nearby. The reason I get these on YLBeans is because they are exotics and don't belong here. These black aphids attack nothing else. You really wouldn't want to cook Greasy beans that long as they do not have the small almost microscopic hairs on the outside of the pods (toughness gene).
As far as yardlongs go you want to pick them when 12-14 inches long before the seeds have begun to swell. This is how they are sold in Asian Grocery stores.
If I were you I would continue to grow the beans you are growing and try a small section of YLB to see if you like them.
Send me an email or PM with your address and I'll send out Asparagus /YL bean and a Greasy that I have extra. This offer is not open ended. I don't requirre recompensation for the postage.

I grew yard long beans this year, and one advantage that I found, is that they really start producing during the hot part of the summer, when my pole beans slow way down. The do not climb as aggressively as the pole beans, so they require a little coaching to get onto the trellis. I only grew a 4' row of the YL's, and got enough for lots of stir fry. I found through some trial and error that they are best if steamed or boiled until just al dente, then they can be tossed in a hot pan with a sauce or seasoning and stirfried. Otherwise, they will get tough. The extra moisture from the steaming keeps them moist and tender.

Next year, I am trying the Chinese Red Noodle, because it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between the bean and vine, and I think the color of the CRN will help.

As a side note, I have noticed that they attract wasps, so be careful when picking!

"As far as yardlongs go you want to pick them when 12-14 inches long before the seeds have begun to swell"
zebraman wrote.

Not necessarily!

When to harvest a long bean? I think it depends on the variety and may be on growing conditions. In my previous post I reported that I picked one that was 30 inches long. It was still as tender as could be . At 13-14 inch my beans are very thin and too young

This is the way they are sold in Asian and Thai grocery stores in Southern CA. They are sold as a bunch tied loosely in an overhand knot. If you wait until the seeds swell you basically have cowpeas.

Zebraman... thanks a million ! I couldn't figure out how to send a private message. Here is my e/mail ginodiclemente@yahoo.com

Hey Gino: In the future just click on someone's username and then click on the "Send an Email" option. I sent one to you and it will be in your Email at Yahoo.com

Does anyone think these would be ok to use for pickling? Like a three bean salad type of thing?

Personally, I doubt yardlong beans would be good for pickling, since they are so thin... but then, some varieties are very crunchy, so it might be worth a try.

Love 'em! We do alot of stir-fry and these are a staple here. I'm growing three varieties this season, Red Noodle, Dow Gok, and Long Zi. They don't cook, can, or freeze like pole beans, but fresh they are excellent. And good producers.

What is the diff from red yard bean and green? I am debating on getting seeds..

The red podded yardlongs have a firm texture, and somewhat of a nutty flavor. They mature later than some of the green-podded types (especially those with black seeds), and seem to prefer more heat than many of the green-podded varieties. The yield is good, but slightly less than the black-seeded varieties below. I enjoy them in part because they keep their burgundy color when cooked.

There is wide variation in green-podded varieties. The black-seeded ones I've tried are generally earlier, more tolerant of cool weather, bear heavily, and have tender (even delicate) pods. One of the black-seeded varieties (with dark green pods & purple tips) has the strongest flavor of those that I've tasted; it goes by several names, including Asparagus Bean and Liana.

Green-podded / red-seeded varieties seem to benefit from longer seasons, be firmer & often sweeter as a rule, have very long pods, and yields ranging from medium to somewhat heavy. Pods can be anywhere from very light green to deep green.

There are many more discussions of yardlong beans on both the Bean Forum, and the Asian Vegetable Forum.