Kitchen tips # 20 - Easy trim beans

How often do you resort to those ready trimmed beans? It might save chopping time for those evenings when you have had a long busy day, but how long do they stay fresh? They seem to be cut and left in warehouses for a few days before being distributed, then held in the shops' warehouse, so by the time you take them off the shelf the ends are brown already - not very apppetising.

Stick with the un-trimmed beans. This is the almost instant way to cut them.

1. Leave them in the packet. Tap them on the board lightly so all of the ends are together.

2. Trim the ends through the sellophane. I use the razor sharp pastry knife for this.

3. Turn round and repeat with the other end.

4. Cut them in the middle.

Then you can cook them and mix them with Jerusalem artichokes as seen in February.