Cade’s Cove Beans

The other night at supper as a conversation starter, we asked each member of the family to say what their favorite family vacation destination was.  That’s a tough question.  We had as many favorites as there are family members, so there was no consensus.  All of the family vacations have been fun and scenic and we spent some time talking about each of them.

One of the places discussed was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Sitting in the middle of the Park is Cade’s Cove and is in a valley surrounded by mountains.  There is an 11 mile loop that you can take to enjoy some really scenic sights, stopping along the way to hike and explore.  Cade’s Cove was settled in the early 1800’s by settlers, and you can tour the old restored buildings, mills, churches, barns, etc.  Those were some tough people – no cell phone coverage or WI-FI to be found anywhere! 

Anyway, I was happy to be given a small envelope containing maybe 10 seeds at a seed exchange at a Sustainable Agriculture conference a few years ago, and the handwritten label said “Cade’s Cove Beans.”  “Awesome,” I thought and couldn’t wait to plant them.  Since it is a pole bean, I planted them at the end of my trellis that contains Snow-on-the-Mountain and Multi-colored pole beans.  You can see the Cade’s Cove beans on the bottom right in the photo below.  The leaves are yellowing as they are about finished.

Pole Bean trellis

Here is what the pods look like as they are ripening.  They are fat beans.  The pods are green at first, but as they ripen, they turn a yellowish color with faint pink markings.

Ripened Beans

Once you pop open the pod, you can see some plump white beans with brown speckles on them.  Interesting! They shell quite easily.

6 Beans in a pod

So we picked the ones that were ripe and Benjamin and I began shelling the beans.  Okay, mostly it was Benjamin.  He really likes to shell beans and peas.  He found that they had mostly 6 or 7 beans per pod, with the most having 8 beans per pod. 

Shelling Beans

In fact here is a nice shot of the Master Bean Sheller in all his glory, proudly showing off his handiwork.

Benjamin's Beans

We had a nice container of shelled beans ready to be cooked.  I was anxious to try them.  I like rice and beans – any kind of beans.  Our preacher grew up in the depression and likes to say that they were never hungry and ate a variety of food – one day they would eat rice and beans, and the next day they would eat beans and rice.

Ready for cooking

Tricia cooked them with a little bit of smoked sausage to impart a smoked flavor and I gotta tell you, these beans were good!  They were creamy and delicious served over some rice.  The only thing missing was some cornbread.  Settling Cade’s Cove was a hard thing, I’m sure, but if Momma had a pot of Cade’s Cove beans cooking for supper over the fireplace, life couldn’t have been that hard, could it?

In a search to find out more information about Cade’s Cove Beans, I found that that area also yielded another heirloom bean called “Turkey Craw Beans.”  It was named that because a settler in the early 1800’s killed a turkey and when gutting and cleaning the turkey, discovered a bean in the turkey’s craw.  He planted the bean and it yielded some beans that look somewhat similar to Cade’s Cove Beans.  See, I love stuff like this and it’s why I try to grow heirloom stuff.  Not only are you growing and eating a delicious thing, but you get a history lesson as well!

While reading about this, I learned that Cade’s Cove Beans are rare.  For that reason (and the reason that they are doggone good), I purposed that I would do my best to save some seeds and continue to plant them year after year.  I let some pods dry on the vine as much as possible, but daily thundershowers caused me to go ahead and pick them and put them on the windowsill on a paper plate to dry further.  Over the course of several days, I moved them around to ensure even drying.

These we'll dry and save for seed

Hopefully the germination will be good on them and I’ll be able to continue growing Cade’s Cove Beans in our own little “settlement” to the south and west (and in much flatter topography!) than Cade’s Cove.

Dried Cade's Cove beans for seed - For the Future 2017 Crop

Maybe I’ll have to search for some Turkey Craw Beans as well!  For now, though, I’m more than happy with our Cade’s Cove Beans!  Here is evidence that this old boy might have too much time on his hands on some evenings:

God is Good.  Life is Good.  Cade’s Cove Beans are Good.