Paiute Gold Tepary Bean (Bush, Dry)

$4.00$14.25

Phaseolus acutifolius

Highly Drought Tolerant | Nutty | Quick Maturing

Small, flat beans vary in color from mustard to brick with 5-7 beans per pod on productive, low, half-runner plants. Tasty and fast cooking for a tepary bean, harvest the self-jettisoning seeds promptly. Has a rich nutty flavor and can be used like any soup bean because the retain their shape. This variety originates from the Southern Paiute, specifically the Shivwits band. It’s drought and salt tolerant. It grows in clay soils and does not tolerate wet conditions (though this particular strain seems to perform the best of the others we have tried under standard irrigation conditions). Original stock from Native Seed Search.

  • Approx 60 seeds/pkt

  • Drought Tolerant

  • Planting Season: Summer

  • Poor Soil

  • Salt Tolerant

Description

More on Tepary Beans….

According to Gary Paul Nabhan, an ethnobotanist, historians did not believe indigenous farming could exist in the southwest and intermountain west region. Tepary beans tell a different story, showing that indeed farming existed for centuries in these communities. This bean was most likely traded through the Mojave tribe to the Paiute who domesticated it, making it one of few food crops domesticated in North America. Typically grown with floodwaters diverted from desert washes, these beans have been known to germinate, set pod, and produce dry seed from a single drenching rain. This makes it one of the most drought, salt, and heat-tolerant legumes in the world, according to Nahban. We have found that it produces better under what would be stress for other crops and if given plentiful irrigation produces less. It was a staple crop in the southwest, Utah, and into Nevada until gas pumps and other irrigation systems allowed other more water-consuming crops to be produced. This variety exemplifies the qualities we are looking for. It is resilient, drought-tolerant, and tasty! We are grateful that Native Seed Search and others brought this seed back from the brink of extinction.

Additional information

Weight N/A
Size

Packet, 1/4 lbs, 1 lbs