Pole Dry

(P. vulgaris) Angelo Pellegrini (1904-1991) is a Seattle area legend. His recipe for basil pesto written for Sunset Magazine in 1946 was likely the first pesto recipe ever published in the US. An Italian immigrant, food writer, and Professor of English at UW, he left us with a body of...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom* (P. vulgaris) As the title of an article in The Atlantic about the Basque black bean proclaimed a few years ago, Alubia di Tolosa is indeed “The Most Famous Bean in Spain”. Complete with its own “Brotherhood of the Bean”, a harvest festival in Tolosa, a Slow...

(P. vulgaris) Borlotto, or cranberry beans (as they are known in the US) are a staple of northern Italian cuisine, and none is prized more than the famed Borlotto Lamon of the Veneto. For years Anthony and Carol Boutard maintained the variety at Ayers Creek Farm in Gaston, Oregon from...

(P. vulgaris) In the city of Tarbes, at the foot of the Pyrenees in southwest France, a cooperative of growers produces one of the most renowned white beans in Europe. The variety is called Alaric (named for a local canal), and the purpose is singular: Cassoulet. Alaric holds the unusual...

(P. vulgaris) We consider ourselves true connoisseurs when it comes to appreciating the beauty of dry beans, and I have to say, I have never been quite so mesmerized by a bean as I was cracking open pods of San Bernardo Blue the first summer we grew it. Originally collected...

(P. vulgaris) This beautiful pole bean takes its name from the Canadian gardener who brought it from Russia to southern Manitoba, where it has been maintained since. Vigorous, fast-growing vines produce a prolific set of large, plump, stunning half cream/half burgundy beans. Said by some to be good in its...

(P. vulgaris) (aka “Dove’s Breast”) This Portuguese bean is one of the most beautiful in our collection: large and plump, half pure white, the other half speckled beige and burgundy. Though we list them as a pole bean, they display more of a half-running habit to about 4-5’, thus benefiting...

(P. vulgaris) One of the most beautiful beans we've ever seen, Kaimame has impressed us for the past two seasons with its earliness and heavy sets. Hailing from Hokkaido, Japan the name means "shell bean" for its striped blue and black swirls that resemble the concentric patterning of oyster or...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom* (P. vulgaris) Years ago, we (read “Brian”) developed an obsession for collecting the classic regional white beans of northern Italy and France. “Sorana”, a famed pole bean of Tuscany proved difficult to find and we are thankful to Josh Volk and Lane Selman for tracking some...

(P. vulgaris) Gialèt, also known as "Fasol Biso" and "Solferino," has been grown in the Val Belluna of Northern Italy since the early 20th century. This area of the Veneto, in the foothills of the Dolomites, is significant as one of the first places in Italy where beans were seriously...