Veg Showcase Madgascan Bean (bean Madagascar)

Other Names
Lima Bean, bean Madagascar
Basic Growing Tips
  1. Grows in most soil conditions
  2. Best grown in warmer conditions
  3. Grows best in full sun
  4. Heirloom variety
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Mark

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Mark submitted a new showcase item:

Madgascan Bean (Bean Madagascar)

Here is my Madagascan Bean plant or some call it "Bean Madagascar". Apparently, this climbing bean originated in Peru cultivated by humans over 8000 years ago!

It's a perennial and lives for about 3-4 years and grows fast getting to a height of around 4 metres and width of 2-3 m. The vine itself is attractive but the tiny white flowers are hardly noticeable amongst the foliage. After flowering, large flat pods form (not edible) similar shape to sweet pea and inside usually forms 3 large speckled maroon and white beans. Beans are about the...
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Mark

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Hi Mark, We have a good crop of the Madagascan bean seeds you gave us when we visited, but Chris and I can’t remember what you told us to do with them. Can you email some info on how to prepare and use them for cooking . Regards Lester and Chris

Hi Lester and Chris,

You can simply boil the Madagascan beans up like any bean until they are soft enough to eat (about 20 - 25 minutes) and then use them as a side vegetable for any meal. Also, they are good used in Italian cooking (like with a rich vegetarian pasta sauce) or use the pre-boiled beans (cooled first) and mixed into a salad with a nice dressing. If you are making an old fashioned vegetable soup you can throw a handful of raw Madagascan beans into the stock with all the other veggies and they will almost double in size and add protein to the soup.

They can be left to dry naturally and kept in the pantry or you could boil a batch up and then freeze the beans spread out on some baking paper then once frozen package into a freezer bag (that way they will stay individual) and will be easy to use as required.
 

ClissAT

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I make baked beans with them. Yumm
Also add them to vegie stew made in pressure cooker. Well I cook the beans first then add a heap of various veg.
But I always soak the actual dried raw beans at least overnight & change the water twice before cooking in another batch of fresh water. They have phytic acid in them that makes them bitter & is not good for us to eat. Soaking removes it. The drier the seed the longer the soak.
If using fresh young beans in a salad I will soak them while I make up the rest of the salad meal then drain & combine the beans into their bowl.
My vines are just starting to leaf up again so once fruiting I am going to test if soaking also makes the young pods edible because even they can be very bitter.
 

Mark

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My vines are just starting to leaf up again so once fruiting I am going to test if soaking also makes the young pods edible because even they can be very bitter.
Hmmm, I don't know about that - they're pretty tough those pods! :)
 

Louise

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I was gifted 10 of these beans and I planed 3 of which only one grew but it's growing fast and has flowers already. I've planted on a fence near the house and water daily, I'm looking forward to my first crop and tasting these beans.
 

ClissAT

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Louise just be careful you don't overwater since Madagascar beans don't need a lot of water & will bear better if slightly under stress. Pulse type beans in general don't like a lot of water & sprout better in barely damp conditions & don't really need a drink until they have their second set of leaves. Otherwise the seed that they are still living off goes mouldy & rots thereby rotting the newly forming root system.
If your beans are fruiting already, you should be getting dried out pods by mid-late January.
mmm Boston Beans or simple Baked Beans, yummo! Don't forget to soak 24hrs before cooking or you will be 'gassed' out of your home! :ROFL:
 

Mark

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This xmas I had some family members request more Madagascan beans after they forgot to collect their own seed from the plant I initially gave them... I believe they loved the beans so much and inadvertently ate most of the produce over the past few years and the remaining seeds they did eventually keep didn't sprout.

It can be a little tricky to germinate.
 

Louise

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Louise just be careful you don't overwater since Madagascar beans don't need a lot of water & will bear better if slightly under stress. Pulse type beans in general don't like a lot of water & sprout better in barely damp conditions & don't really need a drink until they have their second set of leaves. Otherwise the seed that they are still living off goes mouldy & rots thereby rotting the newly forming root system.
If your beans are fruiting already, you should be getting dried out pods by mid-late January.
mmm Boston Beans or simple Baked Beans, yummo! Don't forget to soak 24hrs before cooking or you will be 'gassed' out of your home! :ROFL:

Thanks ClissAT, as I've been on holidays I've watered everyday but I'll hold back now. Yum I love homemade baked beans.
 

Louise

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This xmas I had some family members request more Madagascan beans after they forgot to collect their own seed from the plant I initially gave them... I believe they loved the beans so much and inadvertently ate most of the produce over the past few years and the remaining seeds they did eventually keep didn't sprout.

It can be a little tricky to germinate.

Mark I wonder how long the beans I didn't plant will last for, should I plant more or regift the remaining?
 

Mark

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It might be prudent to start a succession crop or at least one other plant so when the first one/s dies you have a younger one coming through...?
 

Louise

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Good idea, I'll do that. Thanks Mark
 

Kasalia

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For all those growing these beans here is a wonderful bean burger recipe. Made two delicious meals for 2 of us. You can also freeze blended beans to make up later. Often you get so many you dont know what to do with them all. This recipe uses a cup full.

http://earthwisegardening.com/?p=268
 

ClissAT

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For all those growing these beans here is a wonderful bean burger recipe. Made two delicious meals for 2 of us. You can also freeze blended beans to make up later. Often you get so many you dont know what to do with them all. This recipe uses a cup full.

http://earthwisegardening.com/?p=268



Kasalia, thanks for posting that link. That recipe sounds great. I have dried beans left over from the 2015 season. Last year I didn't water nor tend the vines so they hardly grew which suited me. But I got so many the year before, there was plenty.

I find the dried beans cook much quicker in the pressure cooker. In the comments under that recipe, she talks about them being boiled for 1.5hrs :eek:. Pressure them in 15mins!

In winter I do a variety of stews which all contain basically the same ingredients with small but important differences. The basic recipe is made with large chunks (small child fist sized)of a wide variety hard veg all placed into the pressure cooker, followed by whatever protein I choose. That could be madagasca beans or chicken frames with a sprinkle of salt & pepper. Then comes the sauce made from a can of either mushroom or chicken soup & 3 cans water or stock mixed together & poured over the veg. Lid on, pressure up for 15mins, turn it off & leave til needed (at least 2-3hrs). Much better the next day. I like to make a lot of sauce in my stews so there is plenty to mop up with my home made bread.:twothumbsup::eat:
 
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KangaBanga

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Have a few of these vines on my fence. I just plant a couple seeds into the ground and up they come. Haven't had to look after them at all and boy are they prolific.(Having said that, I do run a deep wood chip mulch garden of Eden type setup)

I find it a lot of work though to process the pods by hand. If anyone in Brisbane wants some just give me a buzz and I'll pass on some to you.
 
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