French Beans

Ingredients

• French beans
• spring water
• salt

Instructions

1. Cut off the stalk end first, then turn to the point and strip off the strings.
2. If the beans are not quite fresh, have a bowl of spring water with a little salt dissolved in it standing before you, and throw the beans in as they are cleansed and trimmed.
3. When all are done, put them on the fire in boiling water with some salt in it.
4. When they have boiled fifteen or twenty minutes, take one out and taste it; as soon as they are tender, take them up and throw them into a colander to drain.
5. To send up the beans whole, when they are young, is much the best method, and their delicate flavour and colour is much better preserved.
6. When a little more grown, they must be strung and then cut lengthwise in thin slices; and for common tables they are split and divided across, but those who are nice do not use them at such a growth as to require splitting.