Three Rare Beans
(Page 2 of 3)
April/May 2006
By William Woys Weaver
Comtesse de Chambord has been around since at least the late 19th century (known then as the Hungarian dwarf rice bean) and remains quite popular in France and Quebec.
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This elfin bean is much too delicate for large-scale production, so it has remained something of a chefs delight. Because it does not grow much taller than 8 to 12 inches, Comtesse de Chambord requires a specially protected place in the garden. The plants should be well-staked because they tend to fall over in heavy rains; this ruins the pods both for eating and for seed saving. You can plant Comtesse de Chambord in cold frames with the lids ready for protection should a violent storm arise. This bean also is ideal for growing in a greenhouse, even in winter.
Like Beurre de Rocquencourt, this bean should be allowed to dry in the pod for seed-saving purposes. If the pods are almost dry, you can pull up the plants and hang them upside down in bundles to dry out of direct sunlight. This is a useful seed-saving technique when the weather is wet and humid.
Pretzel Bean
(Vigna unguiculata)
Many of us are familiar with the so-called yard-long cowpeas, but very few people know there is a variety of cowpea that has pods that curl upward and twist back to form a perfect pretzel. The small green pods of the pretzel bean taste deliciously walnutty, and the plants are highly productive. You can even eat the greens when cooked, the tender young leaves and shoots make a wonderfully healthy dish.
The pretzel bean was introduced commercially in the United States in 1893 by W. Atlee Burpee, under the name Rams Horn Bean. Burpee treated it as a vegetable curiosity. Curiosities aside, this unusual cowpea happens to be quite practical, especially for small gardens. Because it grows as a twining vine, it is easy to train on poles or a trellis, taking advantage of vertical, rather than horizontal, space. The dry peas can be saved and cooked like any common black-eyed pea. Also, cowpeas are particularly great for fixing nitrogen in the soil, and the vines make excellent fodder for goats and other livestock.
