We’re pretty loosey-goosey here at KCE; Aunt Toby doesn’t tend to promote or recommend products. A lot of that has to do with the fact that what works here at Chez Siberia just might not work for readers where in particular you are. But I’m making a special case here with Royal Burgundy Beans. For those of you in the UK, I know Thompson and Morgan has a type called “Purple Teepee”.
Why do I like purple podded bush beans?
First: Earliness. Bush beans are notoriously finicky about soil temps. In general, if it’s not warm enough, they just lie there and rot at their leisure. Purple podded beans, for some reason (don’t ask me why; I have not a clue), can handle temperatures much much cooler than the standard, much beloved by all (but not by the Siberians, I’m afraid) “Bush Blue Lake’. So, I’d love them even if they did not have any other advantages.
Second: Hardiness against damp conditions. Again, bean seeds can be very delicate when it comes to spring conditions where it rains and it rains and it’s chilly and it’s raining and the soil is just wet. Again, I’ve had springs here where we’ve had to sow beans such as Bush Blue Lake several times before conditions have dried out enough for the damned things to germinate. Purple podded beans just pop up, no matter what.
Third: They have this ‘gee-whiz’ feature which is very helpful when you want to blanch and freeze them: Put them into boiling water and as soon as they turn from purple to green (and it’s a good, dark, pine green), YOU ARE DONE! Pull them, throw them into cold water, freeze them under whatever method you use (we use the ‘stick them into plastic bags and vaccuum seal them’ but to each his/her own). Just take a look at the photographs: Same mix of beans, same pot, photo just taken one minute apart. Magic. I love it.
I wish they stayed purple after cooking. Wouldn’t that make a gorgeous jar of beans, mixing purple, greens and yellows? It would be like a work of art.
I’ll have to try those next year. We had cold wet, wonky weather, so I had to re-sow my beans several times. Sound like the Royal Burgandy would have done just fine. Happily after my several re-sows, I finally have enough beans to can. In a pressure canner of course! 😉
I grow some variety of these and wish they stayed purple when cooked too. I also eat them raw sometimes.