Chinese Longbeans

These approximately foot-long, stringless green beans (Vigna sinensis var. sesquipedalis) are one of the most colorful items in a Chinese vegetable market. Bound in a long hank and left to flop over the shelf, they look like the colorful ponytail of some Jolly Green Giantess. Variously called yard-long beans, cow beans, haricots baguette, Chinese green beans, and (for a reason I can’t comprehend) asparagus beans, they are sweet and tender when thin and have a wonderful shape and texture for stir-frying, something like our own best string beans but with a bit more crunch and body.