When boiling green beans, adding baking soda to the green beans helps the green beans maintain and keep their vibrant green color as well as speed up the softening process of the green beans.
The baking soda helps the green beans maintain their vibrant and green color by making the boiling water slightly alkaline which stabilizes the chlorophyll pigment and prevents it from breaking down into a dull olive color.
However if overused the baking soda can actually make the green beans have a mushy texture so you want to avoid using too much baking soda when boiling the green beans.
Things you can put in your green beans to give them flavor are onions, herbs, garlic, pepper, soy sauce, butter, bacon bits, bacon, fresh herbs, nuts, honey brown sugar, and salt.
Green beans can taste bland due to the type of green beans being used, your cooking method and as a result of the lack of addition of flavors.
When fresh green beans are not cooked properly, the fresh green beans can lose their natural sweetness.
And canned green beans will also often have a bland flavor as a result of the canning process and the preservatives.
Overcooking the green beans can also cause your green beans to lose their natural sweetness and develop a mushy texture.
Simply boiling the green beans without adding seasonings or flavor enhancers can also result in bland green beans.
Also different green bean varieties also have different flavors.
For example, pole beans are know for having a stronger and more earthy flavor than bush beans do.
If you want to enhance the flavor of the bland green beans you can add some seasoning such as salt, pepper, garlic, onions or other herbs which help make the green beans taste much better.
And opting for recipes that have limited flavor additions like green bean casserole can also result in a bland green bean dish.
If you're using dried green beans, soaking the dried green beans in salted water before you cook them can also help to make the green beans rehydrate faster and enhance their flavor.
Canned green beans are often cooked in a salty brine or even sweet syrup which can also alter their natural flavor and some canned beans can take on the metallic taste of the can itself.
Fresh green beans tend to have the best flavor and texture when compared to canned green beans.
Also avoid overcooking the green beans and add flavor enhancers like onions, herbs, garlic, pepper and salt and choose fresh and high quality green beans.