Difference between Green Beans and Haricot Verts?

[yoyo28]

I can't for the life of me figure out the difference between a green bean and a French green bean or "haricot vert". I'd like to buy some at the farmer's market, but they all look the same to me. They do have these really long ones too, but I think those are used in Asian cooking. Any tips?

[Bacardi1]

The difference is in size & flavor. While technically "Haricot Verts" is just a green bean, these days the markets & seed companies differentiate them by "Haricot Verts" (aka "filet beans") being those originally French-bred beans that have a full-flavored beany taste when extremely thin, tender, small, & young.

If you picked regular green (string/snap) beans that young, a lot of the flavor would be missing, as those beans are much better tasting when a bit more mature. Not mature to the tough stage, but larger than filet beans.

[2sleepy]

I just found haricots verts at Costco in Reno NV =)

[cathygleeson]

guess my previous did not post...my Farmers Market sells "french green beans", long thin & tender plus "green beans", more the green beans in supermarkets. This Maine farm sells all for the same price. "same organic farm, same time it takes us to get them here"...very reasonable.
If you ever get to Belfast, Maine in the growing season, visit the Friday market

[Brandon Nelson]

Green "snap beans" originated in the America's. We used to called them "string beans" but the strings are all but absent from modern green beans. They have traveled all over the world as popular cultivars, and have seen the birth of many sub species abroad.

In the US Kentucky Wonder and Improved Kentucky Wonder were once the standard. Blue Lake beans have overtaken them in many places though. Wade, Harvester, and contender are other species. Romanos are prized for their superior flavor. Filet beans are typically called "haricot verts". These beans are tender when very small, but are tough when allowed to grow to the size of many other snap beans.

Long beans are more closely related to a black eyed pea than they are to snap beans.

[dmd_kc]

Can't speak for other countries, but in the USA, green beans are much thicker (5 - 6 cm across) than haricots verts (3 -4 cm). "Frenching" green beans by cutting them in half longways was a technique to make the domestic, native crop similar to the French variety. It produces a completely different food -- one that I don't like at all. Beans have to be intact lengthwise to cook properly. There are even ridiculous "Frenching" tools to split them easily:

http://www.canningpantry.com/beanfren...

[Harters]

In the UK, we tend not to use foreign terms, like "haricots vert" for things when there's an English expression, like "green beans". And "green beans" used to be generally known as "French beans". No doubt due to "country of origin" labelling, they're not any longer called that in supermarkets (although they are if you're buying seeds or plants to grow your own).

Now they're generally called "green beans". Or "fine beans" or "dwarf beans" if the supermarket wants to screw more money out of you. Current prices in my usual supermarket:

green beans - £3.72 per kg
dwarf beans - £4.30 per kg
fine beans - £5.70 per kg
organic dwarf beans - £5.96 per kg

[yoyo28]

I think you're on to something. Today at the farmer's market there was only one place that sold "haricot verts", or French green beans, and lo and behold they looked almost exactly like the other green bean sellers, at a higher price. So I selected the thinner green beans from the cheaper green bean sellers, and am happy. But I also wonder whether a thin green bean and a regular haricot vert are the same thing. They looks the same, but do they taste the same? Are they the same? That is the question.

[easily amused]

I grow about 3 different varieties of "French Filet" green beans.... they are all for the most part very thin....about 4 inches in length, extremely tender. Some varieties are a bit longer...equally delicious. "haricots Vert" is the French translation of Green Beans
There is also the term "frenched" when referring to a green bean which means cut into thin strips lengthwise.

[bagelman01]

Haricort Vert>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Double the Price <VBG>

Americans are gullible

[coll]

But sometimes I don't want a big fat string bean.

[bagelman01]

Then don't buy 'Italian ' green beans

Just look for skinny green beans when sifting through the bin in the market, and voila-Haricort Vert

[MMRuth]

Hmm ... usually the green beans in the green bean bins that I see are fat, where as the haricots verts are at least half the diameter of regular green beans.

In terms of "Frenched" green beans, I believe that "Frenching" just refers to the cut of the beans. This may also apply to french fries - "Frenched" potatoes.

[coll]

I mostly buy my green beans in season at the local farm, and they are all very fat. Then at Thanksgiving, I pay whatever they want for hericot vert at the grocery store. Because the dish wouldn't be the same, they are much more tender then underripe regular green beans. But if you like the fat ones, I don't blame you for being price conscious. I'm the only one in my house that eats the fat ones.

[Bacardi1]

"Skinny green beans" are definitely NOT the same as "Haricot Verts" (aka "filet beans"). The latter are specially bred to have a full bean flavor when extremely small, tender, thin, & young. "Skinny green beans" will be strongly lacking in flavor by comparison.

[mucho gordo]

Aren't the Italian beans wide and flat?

[Bacardi1]

Yes, they are. And "Haricot Vert" are not Italian beans. They're French. Nor are "Italian" beans in any way like regular green/string beans.

Italian (aka "Romano") beans are wide & flat, & can be eaten young as fresh pod beans, or shelled & eaten as fresh shell beans, or allowed to mature & dry, & then shelled & used as dried shell beans.

"Haricot Vert" are only eaten fresh at a very young stage, but they can also be allowed to mature & dry, & can then be shelled & used as dry beans also. The only edible stage that is skipped is allowing the beans to get as large as regular snap beans, as true Haricot Vert become rather tough at the stage that we normally eat regular green beans at.

[mucho gordo]

YUP

[coll]

You know frozen green beans that are called "French" but they're really just cut in half, well this is what they're simulating. It's a variety of string bean that is skinny. I like them sauteed with butter and shallots.

[linguafood]

Well, haricots verts ARE green beans. The French variety is generally slimmer and longer than the 'generic' green bean. Wegmans had them for a while and I love them blanched and then stir-fried with olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes.