green beans

Green beans, also known as snap beans, string beans and snaps, are the unripe young fruit and pods of various cultivars of the common bean. Green beans are harvested and consumed with their pods, before the beans inside have matured. There are two kinds: bush beans (short plants) and pole beans (climbing plants).

Some varieties of beans contain 'strings', a fibrous lining running the length of one side of the pod. This lining can be removed before cooking, although many commercially sold varieties are stringless.