I discovered lablab beans happily self seeds in my garden and even over winters when we don’t have frost, so now I’m determined to find some tastier varieties of these, preferably with larger and more tender pods.
The ones I grew were mostly purple varieties, some sold as ornamentals, but I guess all are edible when properly cooked. The purple ones have a very strong, almost oily coating with a very particular scent, like pencils, that doesnt make it very appetizing to me.
I have a white variety podding now that I was hoping would have less of the pencil scent, but it’s still very present.
Does any of you have experience with this bean and know any good edible varieties?
I grew a few varieties last year but focused entirely on seed increase. I hope to try them this year fresh and dry. Your flavor description is not promising, but I will let you know.
Self seeding beans! Sounds like a dream.
Aren’t they supposed to be something like animal fodder?
My cattle ranging neighbor grew them but failed in a field of dry landed three sisters, the others being corn and maxima.
Having them adapt to Mallorca conditions quietly in a corner somewhere fixing nitrogen or using them as a wind break to decrease water issues or even a sunscreen to create half shade, is also an appealing possibility while looking to find an edible variety.
I finally tried cooking the white ones, and the weird pencil smell completely disappeared - so there is hope. In the end the flavour was nice and mild. A friend sent me a popular green indian variety for the kitchen, that are just starting to sprout now, so let’s see how they turn out🤞
You are absolutely right, it’s good multipurpose crop anyway, but I know there are Bangladeshi varieties bred for different cooking purposes, so it’s just a matter of getting a hold of these. Just got one last week, so let’s see what that does to the mix.
https://seedsofindia.com/ have a great selection of vegetable lablab beans, I placed an order and hopefully it’ll make it through so I can give them a try.
They’re very common where I live. The raw smell is very unpleasant but so is the smell of partially cooked common beans. They’re pretty good fully cooked. They also fix plenty of nitrogen. The roaming livestock here will bust down any fence they can to get to them and destroy the crop though.
