Vigna "Cortona del tresimero"

[ferdzy]

I recently received a lovely package from Holly - ;D Thanks, Holly! - which included a bonus package labelled "vigna cortona del tresimero". Rather than chase after Holly directly, since I know she is busy, I thought I would throw the question out here to see if anyone else knows (or if Holly has time to answer here): what are these?

I gather they are a kind of cow pea. How big do they get and do they need trellising? And are they eaten fresh as green beans? They look a bit small to be a dry bean, but what do I know? Cowpeas are kind of marginal here, but maybe worth a try, so I guess if anyone knows what sort of climate they originally come from, that would be useful too. Basically, I would like to know their history and geography.

[oxbowfarm]

I've had great luck with cowpeas in NY.

[cortona]

it is fagiolina del trasimeno(little bean from the trasimeno, that is a lacke in central italy) it is a vigna, it is bush, really bush, it is used as dry bean, it taste fantastic, it coock fast, it come from me originally, if you need more info pleas let me know and i will try to help!

[12540dumont]

Here's a photo

These came from our own Cortona.

They are from the Trasimeno Lake Region of Italy. Fagiolina del Trasimeno The “fagiolina” seems to have been known and cultivated since the Etruscan Age. It later became scarcer and scarcer as quite unfit to accommodate the modern industrial production requirements.

The fagiolina is not a bean, but a legume , Vigna unguiculata), shaped like a bean with a typical “black eye” where it attaches to the pod. Nowadays only a few producers cultivate it and it almost disappeared.

The origins of Fagiolina del Trasimeno must be found in Africa: it arrived in Umbria thanks to the ancient Mediterranean populations that travelled around. Theophrastus, successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school, wrote about this species in Greece in 300 BC, so that the Greeks themselves spread those seeds around the southern Europe.

Mine produced every week for weeks and weeks.

Small and oval, the fagiolina could be differently coloured: white (most common), salmon, black and brown. To taste is tender, buttery and incredibly savoury. The local recipes fagiolina-based are very simple, you can eat both beans and pod (cornetto) seasoned with extra-virgin olive oil and a bit of garlic. They cook very fast!

They are drought tolerant and on the web, you can see a video of folks sitting around drinking wine and shelling them.


They grow about a foot tall, and make sprangle top beans. (Beans on the very top of the plant that are easy too pick). No trellising required.

You can eat them fresh or dried. I've only eaten them dried, and only a handful. This year I harvested a quart jar so, I'll be able to grow lots next year.

Attachments:

[ferdzy]

Wow, thanks for the fast responses, everyone. Okay, at that size they may well produce here! I'm looking forward to trying them. I'm interested in quick-cooking dry beans, and these might be a bit more manageable than lentils.

Given how tiny they are Holly, I guess a quart jar is actually quite a few (from the shelling them out point of view, if not from the eating them point of view.) And thanks for the picture - definitely worth a thousand words!

[oxbowfarm]

I've been growing D'olicho di Veneto, also Italian (obviously) and it looks very similar to Holly's picture. Pink/white flowers and clusters of pods raised above the height of the plants.



The seeds are greenish but otherwise look like a regular blackeyed pea.

[steev]

I raised cortona's Fagiolina di Trasimeno (from Holly) last year and found them very productive in seed increase. They do produce a variety of small bean colors. I expect to eat some this year.

[raymondo]

I didn't get round to sowing them this year. Too many things going on and I plum forgot! I'll make a note in the planting diary.

[Drahkk]

BTW, among the more common peas (or maybe just around here) that sprangle top is known as the Top Pick trait. Any pea with Top Pick in the name will hold the pods high like that. One of my favorite traits, for obvious reasons.

Seriously though? A full bush cowpea that can also be eaten as a snap bean? How did these become rare? You have my full attention. I'd love a sample if anyone still has enough to spare.

MB

[12540dumont]

PM me I have one envelope left.

[cortona]

or pm me, i have a full bottle, so i can give away seeds if neded!

[iva]

Cortona, do you perhaps have any seeds left? I'm very interested in this variety. I'm growing Red Noodle yardlog beans for the first time this year and though I'm very pleased with them, I'd like something of a bush type that can be used as a snap bean and as a shelling bean and this sound just like what I need. Please let me know if I can trade something for some of your seeds

[steev]

Having raised them for seed-increase last year, I've got ~300' of row planted this year. I look forward to eating them as "green beans" and dry beans, but I doubt I'll want to work enough to have shellies, they really are quite small.

[cortona]

i'm growing a second crop of fagiolina this year after the first dont produced so much due to a cold a rainy spring, so i think i can have seeds to share with you Iva!
side note, the exact name is dolico and not d'olico,
use the fagiolina as shellies are a bit conterproductive but....experiments are the key to success!

[steev]

Looking at my blooming FdT, I note three distinct flower colors; I suppose that correlates with the seed colors; think I'll flag some plants to see.