Post by blueadzuki on May 9, 2013 12:04:14 GMT -5
Hi all,
Yesterday, while wandering around the fringes of Chinatown FQ, I picked up 4 2lb bags of a Korean labeled (the brand is Korean but the bags say "product of China) bean mix marked "Mixed Healthy Bean" (I had seen the bags the week before, but had other things to pick up, and lacked the carrying capacity) due to some odd things I noticed about the cowpeas therein (see below). Having now sorted through and divided up the beans, I though I should metion what I have found, as this is a REALLY weird mix. The contents were
1. A sprinkling of large white lima beans. I mean "sprinkling" each 2lb bag had an average of 13 of them (If they weren't listed on the contents, I'd have though they might have been errant beans from some other product. however I think the low number was to keep balace as these limas are ENORMOUS, about the size of "gigantes" type runner beans (actually since I don't really trust the accuracy of the English on the label maybe these ARE runner beans.)
2. A longish red common bean, similar to a kidney bean (except some may have a sort of "ghost" mottling and very few have the "hooked" shape of a kidney)
3. A LOT of chickpeas which are odd for several reasons. The first reason is that up until now I did not know that the East Asians ate chickpeas (I though the chickpea consuption line sort of ended at India/Pakistan) However even without this these Chickpeas are a bit odd as it look like there are at least TWO seperate strains in the bags, with smatterings of at least two or more other ones. One of the major too is a pretty standard Kabuli type, similar to what is sold in most stores. Or maybe not so standard, as they ARE unusually larger (dried, they are about the size industry grade chickpeas are after they are soaked). The second is a type I have seen sold in bulk in some health food stores, that I usually think of as the "balloon" type, smaller, wrinkle free chickpeas that are so round as to be near spherical (hence the "balloon" comaprison, as they look like little baloons with the hilum poking off the bottom). There are also a healthy scattering of ones that are clearly desi (grinding) types as well as a fair number of some sort that, while fully mature, full seeds are almost small enough to pass for wild chickpeas (except wild chickpeas don't grow anywhere near China. Actually if that movie is accurate, they really aren't common much of anywhere anymore) There are also a few interesting "intergrades" (like ones with the baloon shape but the giant one's size) I may end up planting next year (for grinding purposes, I tend to prefer rounder chickpeas; they hull easier than the more crenellated types)
3. Cowpeas. This is the reason I bought the bags in the first place. Despite being listed as "black eyed peas" none of them have black eyes. While there are a few that are all mottled, flat pale pink or pale cream (and two with a red/white ying yang pattern) the vast majority have a pattern I have more or less ONLY found in East Asian cowpeas (bear in mind though, I do not have all that exensive of experiance with cowpeas, so don't know all that many types). It's sort of a double ring eye; in inner ring that is somewhere between apricot/bright orange and middle red (sometimes with a greenish cast) and an outer ring of mottled brown and pink (or green) on a white/cream base.
4. Green field peas. Mostly pretty standard, though there are a few with the small seed and/or chenille traits.
5. Black soybeans (large size) I think it is the standard yellow/green cot mix common to black soybeans in Asia
That's pretty much everything (there were a few mung beans too, but so few those have to be errants.)
I sort of want to keep the cowpeas (for obvios reasons) but if anyone wants any of the other things, contact me and let me know what, and how much and we can work something out.
Yesterday, while wandering around the fringes of Chinatown FQ, I picked up 4 2lb bags of a Korean labeled (the brand is Korean but the bags say "product of China) bean mix marked "Mixed Healthy Bean" (I had seen the bags the week before, but had other things to pick up, and lacked the carrying capacity) due to some odd things I noticed about the cowpeas therein (see below). Having now sorted through and divided up the beans, I though I should metion what I have found, as this is a REALLY weird mix. The contents were
1. A sprinkling of large white lima beans. I mean "sprinkling" each 2lb bag had an average of 13 of them (If they weren't listed on the contents, I'd have though they might have been errant beans from some other product. however I think the low number was to keep balace as these limas are ENORMOUS, about the size of "gigantes" type runner beans (actually since I don't really trust the accuracy of the English on the label maybe these ARE runner beans.)
2. A longish red common bean, similar to a kidney bean (except some may have a sort of "ghost" mottling and very few have the "hooked" shape of a kidney)
3. A LOT of chickpeas which are odd for several reasons. The first reason is that up until now I did not know that the East Asians ate chickpeas (I though the chickpea consuption line sort of ended at India/Pakistan) However even without this these Chickpeas are a bit odd as it look like there are at least TWO seperate strains in the bags, with smatterings of at least two or more other ones. One of the major too is a pretty standard Kabuli type, similar to what is sold in most stores. Or maybe not so standard, as they ARE unusually larger (dried, they are about the size industry grade chickpeas are after they are soaked). The second is a type I have seen sold in bulk in some health food stores, that I usually think of as the "balloon" type, smaller, wrinkle free chickpeas that are so round as to be near spherical (hence the "balloon" comaprison, as they look like little baloons with the hilum poking off the bottom). There are also a healthy scattering of ones that are clearly desi (grinding) types as well as a fair number of some sort that, while fully mature, full seeds are almost small enough to pass for wild chickpeas (except wild chickpeas don't grow anywhere near China. Actually if that movie is accurate, they really aren't common much of anywhere anymore) There are also a few interesting "intergrades" (like ones with the baloon shape but the giant one's size) I may end up planting next year (for grinding purposes, I tend to prefer rounder chickpeas; they hull easier than the more crenellated types)
3. Cowpeas. This is the reason I bought the bags in the first place. Despite being listed as "black eyed peas" none of them have black eyes. While there are a few that are all mottled, flat pale pink or pale cream (and two with a red/white ying yang pattern) the vast majority have a pattern I have more or less ONLY found in East Asian cowpeas (bear in mind though, I do not have all that exensive of experiance with cowpeas, so don't know all that many types). It's sort of a double ring eye; in inner ring that is somewhere between apricot/bright orange and middle red (sometimes with a greenish cast) and an outer ring of mottled brown and pink (or green) on a white/cream base.
4. Green field peas. Mostly pretty standard, though there are a few with the small seed and/or chenille traits.
5. Black soybeans (large size) I think it is the standard yellow/green cot mix common to black soybeans in Asia
That's pretty much everything (there were a few mung beans too, but so few those have to be errants.)
I sort of want to keep the cowpeas (for obvios reasons) but if anyone wants any of the other things, contact me and let me know what, and how much and we can work something out.
) our area isn't really all that good for field peas; we tend to go from "too cold for anything to grow" to "too hot for peas to flower" too quickly for the peas to really have time to mature. Some years I can get them to the point where they can be eaten as snaps, but usually the plants collapse before seed matures enough to be savable. The reallty tiny seeded nearly wild pea I used to have could do it since it's tiny plant also mature super fast, but the pods were really tiny too (about the size of the last joint of your thumb) and really didn't taste all that good. And those didn't have the Chenille trait (or my pollination was so lousy they never got a chance to express it) And I don't have any of those anymore (well I have 1 but as it's now about 15 years old, it's probably dead).