Three Heirloom Beans

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Kitchen gardeners will love both the pods and the dry beans of the ‘Beurre de Rocquencourt’ yellow wax bean (black seeds) and the green rice bean ‘Comtesse de Chambord’ (white seeds).
Kitchen gardeners will love both the pods and the dry beans of the ‘Beurre de Rocquencourt’ yellow wax bean (black seeds) and the green rice bean ‘Comtesse de Chambord’ (white seeds).
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A salad made from a combination of three heirloom beans.
A salad made from a combination of three heirloom beans.
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For good seed-saving results, allow pretzel bean pods to dry on the vine.
For good seed-saving results, allow pretzel bean pods to dry on the vine.
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Originally treated as a
Originally treated as a "vegetable curiosity," the pretzel bean is prized for the nutty flavor of its pod.
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As of publication, Comtesse de Chambord rice beans weren't available from commercial sources.
As of publication, Comtesse de Chambord rice beans weren't available from commercial sources.

Gardeners have many delicious bean choices these days, but three rare varieties of heirloom beans in particular deserve a spot in gardens and kitchens everywhere: the buttery-tasting Beurre de Rocquencourt yellow wax bean; the tiny green Comtesse de Chambord rice bean; and the curly, nutty-flavored pretzel bean.

Yellow Wax Bean (Beurre de Rocquencourt) 

The aristocrat of wax beans, Beurre de Rocquencourt has a delectable buttery taste. When freshly picked from the garden and lightly poached, these beans have no equals. Furthermore, the dry beans are excellent for making soup or refried beans.

Beurre de Rocquencourt is reliably productive: The more you pick the beans, the more the plants produce. One reason for this bean’s continued popularity is that it matures quickly (55 days or less), and it grows well in full sun or partial shade. Unlike many newer wax bean varieties, the pods stay crisp when cooked.

Wax beans were introduced into France about 1840 under the name Haricot d’Alger, because they were presumed to have come from Algeria. From this one pole variety the French developed many better selections, some pole and some dwarf or bush. Rocquencourt is a descendant of that old Algerian strain and has its characteristic black seeds. It also shares a great many physical similarities with the once-popular 19th-century American bush bean called German Dwarf Black Wax, and the two are likely related.

  • Published on Apr 1, 2006
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