Snap beans are delicious and can be picked fresh from the garden in summer. Can you then nibble a little on the beans when you harvest them, or are the green snap beans poisonous? Learn more here.

Snap beans are poisonous when raw

Never eat snap beans raw

Snap beans, like other garden beans such as French beans or runner beans, contain the protein compound phasin, which is toxic to humans. Like all proteins, phasin is heat-sensitive and is therefore destroyed during cooking. To be on the safe side, the snap beans should cook for at least 10 minutes.

What happens when you're snap beans raw?

Snap beans are highly toxic when raw. Five beans are enough to cause severe symptoms of poisoning in an adult. Since phasin impairs the transport of oxygen in the blood, the following symptoms appear after two to three hours:

  • a headache
  • Vomit
  • nausea
  • diarrhea
  • stomach pain
  • chills
  • seizures
  • shock

Eating more than 10 beans can even cause death. Snap beans are particularly dangerous for children. Due to the low body weight in children, five beans are enough to cause fatal poisoning.

What to do in case of poisoning?

If only one bean was eaten, poisoning can be counteracted with sufficient intake of liquid. However, if bean poisoning is suspected, a hospital should be visited immediately, where the poison will be removed.

prevent poisoning

If you have small children and pets, it is advisable to fence off the snap beans. You should also make sure that the beans do not fall into the wrong hands when harvesting. Always cook your string beans thoroughly and discard trimmings.

tips

Now don't panic about removing your snap beans from your garden. Raw beans don't taste particularly appealing, so it's extremely unlikely that a child would pick them up.

Category:

Vegetable garden