Blanched string beans tossed with sliced onions and tomatoes or with pasta and pesto make colorful, tasty starters. Fresh shell beans make a light, satisfying main dish, tossed with cherry tomatoes, shallots, chopped basil, and a lemon vinaigrette, or with parsley, garlic, and olive oil, served over hot fettuccine. String beans are whole, immature pods, while shell beans are the seeds inside more mature pods. Any string bean variety will produce seeds that can be shelled, but the pods of most shell bean varieties are too tough to be eaten. You'll find good string beans from early summer until frost.
String beans are best when they feel heavy and plump.
They should break with a good, clean snap when bent. Store them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for no more than a couple of days. To prepare string beans, first check for the string. Most modern varieties don't have much of a string, as it has been bred out. To check, snap off the stem end.