This year I have had a bit of a go at climbing beans. I always grow runner beans. Barlotti beans have become a fixture too, grown for drying in the pod and storing until needed in the following 12 months.
Two novelties this year have been Greek Giant Soup Beans (or just Greek Gigantes beans) and Cherokee Trail of Tears. The Greek beans are white butter beans and traditionally used in a baked bean dish called Gigantes Plaki. The pods are shorter and wider than runner beans and seemed to be vary widely in the number of beans per pod. Despite my early fears about poor yield they delivered a good crop. The taste and texture were ample reward for the effort and we recently enjoyed our first (of many) Plakis so much that we have committed to grow them again, using our home saved seeds.
Cherokee Trail of Tears will have to wait for another post because they haven't been podded yet
I really like borlotti and Gigantes, both of which I intend to grow next year. I got my plants muddled this year so had borlotti running along the ground and dwarf beans growing next to the climbing tunnel ðŸ¤
ReplyDeleteSo easily done. I see my misspelling of Borlotti and trace my error back to the seed packet (supplied by Kings!)
DeleteWe grow runners and climbing French but have never grown any for drying
ReplyDeleteDrying beans are great! IMHO They don't need freezer space and keep for ages without spoiling. Home grown are superior to the commercial dried beans both in texture and, I would say, taste.
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