Description
100 days. A prolific ancient pole bean. Pink-mauve flowers are produced in abundance which are soon followed by green pods. The pods are very fibrous and not very tasty, so its best left as a dry bean. Pods plump up and can be harvested when they turn yellow-tan and dry up while its still producing more flowers for more beans. The beans themselves are a dark indigo-purple and more resemble large corn kernels than beans. Very beautiful.
Historically, these were grown by the Narragansett First Nations of Rhode Island for a traditional dish called “Succotash” composed of corn and beans cooked in fat (re-hydrate, cook corn and beans first then fry in butter as bear fat, the original fat used, is difficult to find) as the base of a savory stew, which I’m sure the types of added ingredients (squash, herbs, etc) changed with the season or whimsy of the cook. It is speculated it was served at the very first Thanksgiving. We will be growing more of these.
- Seed Count: 12-15
- Collection Date: Oct 2020
- Hardiness Zone: annual
- Height and Width: climber
- Germination test type: actual +90%
How to germinate Succotash bean seeds:
Not frost tolerant, so if you sow these outdoors do so after the threat of spring frost is past. Or get a jump start on the growing season by starting indoors 3-6 weeks prior to seating outdoors. Soak seed 12 hours until fully re-hydrated. Sow 1-3 cm deep in warm well draining medium. Germinates in 7 days. Give lots of light and room for the roots to grow. Plants are only as good as their roots. A dusting of legume inoculate to hydrated seed prior to sowing improves vigour.
