Garden Life: Purple Podded Bean
Beans are so satisfying in a garden. Sturdy sprouts make a quick appearance, put out their first leaves, and then stretch vigorously—twirling about to catch hold on anything that will help their upward progress. The purple stem twists around the metal cage, pausing now and again to burst into three broad leaves of freshest green. Winter* rainstorms spangle the vine with plump drops of wild water.
*Growing seasons are quite different when you’re close to the equator!
The first blossoms appear, tiny pink slippers tiptoeing along the vine.
The flowers are followed by tiny green pods that lengthen and lengthen and then are streaked with purple, until the entire vine is festooned with long, knobbly purple pods.
(If you look carefully, you can see some tiny green pods, and those that are still turning purple.)
When cooked, the purple pods became a commonplace green. Still, I found that I actually preferred the texture (firm but smooth) and flavor (sweet and mild) of the purple (green) beans to that of plain green beans. Additionally, purple beans look really fine in a garden!
Photographs: Purple Podded Pole Beans, an heirloom variety available from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.
Photographs and text © 2011.
Friday, May 6, 2011