Abenaki True Cranberry Pole Bean, Native American Heirloom

Abenaki True Cranberry Pole Bean - A beautiful bean that excels for baking and slow cooking. They are exquisite as fresh shelled bean but are excellent as a dry bean. Young pods can be eaten as a snap bean. 

Cranberry pole beans are from the Abenaki Nation and was a very common garden vegetable for colonists. This bean escaped the commercialization of our agricultural system but it was widespread for gardeners from seed catalogs. Some of the earliest references are from the 1800's with Thornburg's 1829 Seed Catalog referencing cranberry beans. The earliest seed catalogs identify many of the cranberry's being crimson with mottling of white. This cranberry from John Withee's collection he donated to Seedavers in 1981 is a true red though it will produce mottled beans from time to time. John read about the Cranberry Beam in a 1796 American Cookery Book and went on the hunt. He found it 11 years later growing on Mr. Taylor's farm in Steep Falls, Maine.  

• Pole bean
• Open-Pollinated
• High Producing
• Dry, Shelling bean (snap when young)
• 85 days
• Grown at Firefly

Instructions -

Sow seeds outdoors after the danger of frost has passed and soil and air temperatures have warmed. Harvest frequently for increased yields.

• Direct Seed 3-4" apart, we like to thin to 6-8"
• Plant 1" deep
• Plant Rows 36-48" apart if doing rows. 
• Full sun 

Firefly Farm & Mercantile may substitute suppliers based on availability

We are always adding new varieties so please check back often at Seeds - Vegetables (fireflyfarmandmercantile.com)