White Ntula

Ntula is a traditional food plant of Africa, similar to the gilo eggplants of Brazil. Little known outside Africa, these small eggplants are attracting attention because of their nutritional qualities and their potential to boost food security. Eaten cooked or raw, the small fruits are an acquired taste as they are somewhat bitter. Gilo fruits in all their various forms and colorations are very popular in Brazil, West and East Africa, and this attractive white form from Uganda is one of the many types available. Ntula fruits are delicious cooked with chicken, lamb, or lentils. Cynthia Bertelsen´s recipe, Spicy Pumpkin and Eggplant Stew, is an inspired adaptation of a traditional West African dish featuring gilo eggplants. Ntula seeds should be started early and transplanted to the garden after the danger of frost is past. Order it now!

Striped Ntula

Similar to white ntula (which see), but fruits are striped purple and yellow. The somewhat bitter ntula fruits are delicious cooked with chicken, lamb, or lentils. Order it now!

Ganxet Bean

This white bean has has a distinctive hooked shape that remains even after cooking. Its incredibly delicate skin and buttery texture have made this variety an enduring favourite of the Vallés-Maresme region of Catalonia in northeast Spain. Genetic studies suggest that the Ganxet bean was first brought to Catalonia from Mexico in the early 1800s. Due to years of unscrupulous business practices the variety lost its original form. But today the Ganxet bean is a protected variety and is enjoying a resurgence of interest. The vines are not said to be terribly prolific and it is slow to mature, but its eating qualities are unrivaled and authentic beans fetch high prices in the markets. Traditionally it is eaten with sausage from la Garriga, or it is served in bean salads made with bacon, but it is also excellent in soups and stews and many other bean dishes. Typically, the seeds are sown in July and harvested in November, but in temperate North American gardens it needs to be started earlier. 120 days. Order it now!

Fort Portal Mixed Bean

Our intrepid plant explorer found this unique mix of beans in the Fort Portal market in Uganda. The colours range from dark purple black to olive green. The "bean ladies" selling these beans likely mix beans from different local growers, each growing a distinctive form. We believe that if the different beans are separated by colour it should be easy to recreate the original varieties grown by the farmers. Order it now!

Mottled Grey Bean

These beans were collected at a market near Fort Portal in Uganda. The "bean ladies" there do all the field work growing and harvesting these beans, and selling them at the market. Most of them get up as early as 4 am on market days to catch buses to shuttle their harvests to market. Beans, although not originally from Africa, have become a favourite staple in the moist cooler regions of the continent. The importance of the diversity of bean crops in Africa cannot be overestimated: almost all of them trace back to the colonists who brought them from Europe more than a hundred years ago. Many of these beans exist today only because African farmers are still growing them while in Europe they were lost. Order it now!

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Konso Teff

Teff is an important food grain in Ethiopia where it is believed to have originated more than 3,000 years ago. About a quarter of Ethiopia´s cereal production is devoted to this one crop, much of which is used to make injera. While it contains glutin, the glutin is not of the type that causes celiac disease. It is high in calcium and other minerals, high in protein, high in carbohydrates and in fibre. The protein is exceptionally well balanced among all the essential amino acids required by humans. The grain is cooked and eaten like millet or quinoa but the cooking time is shorter (thus requiring less energy). Teff is a very versatile. Uncooked teff can be added to baked goods or substituted for other seeds, nuts, or small grains. One half cup of teff can be used in place of 1 cup of sesame seeds. Try teff in your favourite breads, cookies, cakes, stir fry dishes, casseroles, soups, and stews. Can be planted direct in the garden in late May in same manner as alfalfa. Order it now!

Piselle di L’Ago

This rare green pea is from Italy. The name means "peas of the needle". Grow as any shell pea: sow direct in the garden in spring. Order it now!

Kemarogan

A creeping or climbing tropical vine found growing throughout southeastern Asia, from India to Malaysia. Our seeds were collected in Borneo. The vines can reach 5m (15ft) bearing fruits 5cm long and 2cm across. As the fruits ripen they change from green to a brilliant orange or red. The unripe green fruits are edible and are deseeded and candied or made into a condiment. In Laos, however, the ripe fruits are used as a fish poison, and in Malaysia the leaves are used to counteract the poisonous effects of the ripe fruits. In Vietnam the leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Needless to say this is one food plant that needs to be treated with utmost respect! It reminds us of the Japanese culinary obsession with the dangerous pufferfish! The plant is also considered medicinal throughout where it is found: in Thailand, for instance, it is used as a blood tonic and for the treatment of gout, fever, stomach nausea and poor appetite; in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, it is used as a "post-partum remedy". Order it now!

Embiribiri

Closely allied to gynura, an Asian plant eaten cooked like spinach but is also revered for its medicinal qualities at the same time. In central Africa embiribiri is cooked with fish or meat, but curiously it is not cooked with raw meat. Like the Asian gynura, this plant packs a powerful medicinal punch. Has a special power to help women during pregnancy, helping to prevent miscarriage. It helps to regulate menstruation and strengthen the uterus. It is also take regularly for ulcers. The plant can sprawl if it is not pruned regularly, with branches loosely climbing up to about a meter in height or falling down under their own weight. Order it now!

Gialet della Val Belluna Bean

This beautiful, sulphur-yellow variety was once a gift from Pope Clement VII to a cleric. In 1532, the cleric, humanist, and writer, Pierio Valeriano Bolzani, received the beans for some work he had done for the Pope and, according to legend, he was to distribute the variety to the needy. Bolzani sowed the seeds in his native region of Val Belluno in northern Italy, and so began the cultivation of beans in Italy. Over the centuries a vast array of bean varieties have emerged in Italy, but today Gialet is still recognized as one of the best and most flavourful. Sulphur yellow before cooking, it is very tender, with the skin almost dissolving during cooking. Despite its beauty and delicate and distinct flavor, it remains cultivated by just small handful of farmers in the region of Val Belluna. Order it now!

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