[QUOTE=akgardengirl;253662]I love those beans! I buy them marinated in olive oil, spices and vinegar from the antipasto bar at a local super market and they are very expensive. I just went and ordered some also. I hope you get a huge crop of these beans so that I can buy them from you.
Sue B.[/QUOTE]

How to marinate the beans in oil? Are they cooked before? It is most exotic idea I have ever seen :D But interesting:D

Yes, they are cooked before marinating. A lot of the Greek delis sell them as Plaki , they can be heated or eaten at room temp.

There are lots of recipes on the net for Plaki, they all have slight variations and are all good. You can add a bit of heat to them if you wish, I have even added sliced sausage to mine on occasion.

Re pressure cooking, I wouldn't. For most baked bean recipes they need to be almost cooked before most of the other ingredients are added and pressure cooking can take them past that crfitical stage very fast.I find cooking them slowly avoids broken beans. I soak mine overnight, boy do they then become big so put them in lots of water, they soak up a tremendous amount so of you don't give them enough they will be harder to cook, Then I cook mine in a slow crock gently until they just start to soften, then I do the rest of the recipe and combine them..back in the crockpot or oven till done, the beans should be firm, not falling apart.



XX Jeannine

Two more packages of these beans will be shipped out tomorrow. If anyone else wants some, please pm me, I have 3 packs left.

If anyone wants all 60 beans, $7 will get them including bubble mailer and shipping.

DarJones

Hi there,
my name is George and I'm the owner of [url]http://www.allgreektome.net[/url]. I got here from the link Fusion_power posted, which I personally would like to thank for preferring my products :)

Well, some more info about the beans if you are interested. The botanical name is Phaseolus [I]coccineus[/I] (spp.multiflorus), they are not Lima beans, they are a variety of Runner Beans. I got them from Kavala area in northern Greece and as a friend mention above they are dried natural in the sun.

I just started my e-store a few days ago, it is still in testing mode cause I have to add some more items. At the moment only 5 products are under "Seeds" category, but I'll add more soon. What is special about the seeds is that I travel personally all over the country in order to find seeds from small farms or "heirloom" grows, then I test their germination. Which is the reason that I may have some items for a small amount of time and them relist them again next year.

Please feel free to ask any inquiry you might have about organic seeds and I'll do my best to find them if they are available in my country. Since this is the first forum mentioning my web store, so I offer you free shipping to each additional seeds pack, no mater how many you buy you will pay only for the first one, just mention your username you have here :)

Once again thanks for you time. I'm really glad to be here with you. Have a nice day :D

George

Well hello George, as I started the Gigandes search on here may I say hello..

I grew these for many years from seeds I bought in Greece,I kept seeds and kept them going for may years growing them here in Canada and the UK. Sadly a problem occured and I did not sow any for about 4 years, then last year my seeds no longer germinated.

I have found many of them over the last couple of years but so far they have not been the size of my original ones. As you know they are graded by size in Greece and it is the Elephant ones I am looking for.

I have sent for some of yours and am hoping they are the size I am looking for, if not then I guess we make Plaki again!!

Thank you for coming on the forum it is great to meet you.

XX Jeannine

Hi George, I'm wondering if you can tell us more about the two types of Santorini tomato.

My perception about these is, [I]probably[/I] the reason for their famous flavor is really due to the way they are grown, slowly and with as little irrigation as possible, almost like a wild plant that has to depend on rainwater alone. If I had to guess, I'd guess the genetics of the Santorini tomatoes aren't really all that special. That is, if grown differently, they'd probably turn out to be about the same flavors as any other very small-fruited tomato.[B] But I could so easily be wrong on this.[/B] Do you have any experience with them?

On another board in a different forum, some Americans have been very enthused about a variety they call Thessaloniki Oxheart. Somebody saved seeds from a big heart-shaped tomato they picked up at a market in Thessaloniki, and they've been raving about how wonderful it is ever since. These are quite different from the medium-sized round red Thessaloniki, which has been popular among some American gardeners for decades. If you have access to seeds of a tomato like this beloved oxheart tomato, you might want to consider making them available.

Two very similar big red Italian pear tomatoes are also popular among American gardeners, the better-known being usually called Red Pear Franchi:

[URL]http://www.growitalian.com/products/Tomato%2C-Red-Pear.html[/URL]

...and the other being Bavicchi's Red Pear Abruzzese:

[URL]http://www.gourmetseed.com/product/TM18/Tomato-Red-Pear-Abruzzese.html[/URL]

Do you have anything like these in Greece?

As an aside: I've sold a lot of things on Ebay in the past, and last year for a few months I tried selling garden seed. Did pretty well, had to drop the project for now because I'm severely undercapitalized. So anyway... I was pretty impressed by your Ebay pages. Ebay is, shall we say, a really[I] interesting[/I] market. Very competitive, very unpredictable.

Hello,

@Jeannine Anne
It's true that beans here are graded by the size. Elephant beans and Gigandes beans are quiet similar, however Elephants could be considered a bit bigger and fatter. However the actual different is in the shape and not the size. I'll try to find some of them and test them. Even post some photos if you like. Btw, you can make plaki with both of them, we prefer Gigandes though cause it's easier to find. Unfortunatelly there are many sellers which sell elephants as gigandes so we have to be very careful.

@Petronius_II
I have to talk with my agriculturist about what are you asking regarding the Santorini tomatoes, however I believe that you are right, probably it is not the tomatoes' DNA but the climatological conditions and the way they grow that makes them taste different. However, I cannot say the same for Fava Bean which is a native Santorini specie.

About the oxheart tomato, a variety that is cultivated here is a French variety often called "Poire Rouge" I do not know if this is what are you seeking. Really hard to find "the real ones" cause seeds are not sold in the market, only from "heirloom" farms and they are few. I'll try to find some too.

Ebay indeed is a competitive and unpredictable market, however it is really hard to survive among others because seeds are something that someone have to smell, taste, feel in his hands before buying rather than an iPhone for example. I spend a lot of time in order to find and test seeds before list them on ebay, rather than the Chinese guys who produce hybrid seed in tons and sell them almost for free, it is hard to convince the seller that your seeds are better cause the only he see is a couple of photos and the price.

Regards,
George

PS: Sorry for my English ;)

Thank you George, and well done with your English it is wonderful, my only bit of Greek is a few phrases from a Greek boy friend many many years ago..

I am very determined to find a few Elephant sized beans,although I do use the others too. Most people don't understand the grading here and don't realise what they are like.

I think the ones you sent me should be here soon.

You are very right about some sellers selling Gigandes as Elephants, I drove 2 hours away just a few weeks ago to a Greek deli bacause they said on the phone they had Elephants but when I got there it was the smaller ones.

However, I appreciate you trying and shall enjoy your beans whatever they are.

thank you again

XX Jeannine

Thanks for your prompt reply, George.

The thing I've done most on Ebay is ancient coins. I might be able to tell you a few things about[I] ancient [/I]Greece that most Greeks don't know. Most of what I know about modern Greece would fit on a large postage stamp with room left over. I love Mediterranean cuisine of all kinds but am more familiar with Italian, Greek, and Turkish than any of the others.

[QUOTE]About the oxheart tomato, a variety that is cultivated here is a French variety often called "Poire Rouge" I do not know if this is what are you seeking. Really hard to find "the real ones" cause seeds are not sold in the market, only from "heirloom" farms and they are few. I'll try to find some too.[/QUOTE]I don't think Thessaloniki Oxheart would be a poire rouge type, though I'll bet a Greek heirloom version of poire rouge would be fantastic. TO would be a true oxheart shaped more like these:

[URL]http://www.gourmetseed.com/product/TM11/Tomato-Oxheart.html[/URL]

...or this:

[URL]http://www.growitalian.com/products/Tomato-Cuor-di-Bue-%252d-Oxheart.html[/URL]

...And the one some of us American fanciers are calling Thessaloniki Oxheart is no doubt, as you say, a local Greek heirloom from the Thessaloniki region. It doesn't come from certified seed. It comes from the inside of a tomato somebody picked up at market.

With "Thessie O," as they've affectionately nicknamed her, the flavor probably[I] is[/I] in the genes. I've never grown or tasted it myself so I can't say for sure. Just saying, a tomato variety like that could become very popular here if it were developed properly. Especially if it can go from transplant to vine-ripe in 80 days or less.

Thank Jeannine, I'm waiting for your feedback. Petronius, I like growing seeds, however I am not a specialist. I will show these link to my agriculturist and inform you. Btw, I got some spinach seeds today, I'll list them soon if you are interested

:love::love::love::love: Greek spinach... :love::love::love::love:

...Homemade spanakopita with Greek spinach :D:) ...

...Spinach-egg drop soup with Greek spinach :love::D:)

...Yeah, I'll bet that's pretty good!

One tip for selling on Ebay you might want to consider, and I'm pretty sure I'll do this myself if I sell seeds on Ebay again:

Start collecting recipes. Have somebody who's proficient in English check the editing and translations. Offer to e-mail the recipes to your customers as soon as we've paid.

Thanks for the tip Petronius!! Nice idea. I have a lot of traditional recipes, few of them are translated by professionals as you advised me. I have send recipes to people who asked for. This time I am focusing on my web store rather than the ebay store. I will create nice pdf files and make then downloadable.

Fusion,

Since you are going to grow them in AL you must expect they'll set beans . Do you think it's worth my time to try and grow them GA? I love runners but my nights stay too warm for most runners to produce beans.

Yvonne

@Fusion: Dude! You are da man!

Finally dragged myself to my PO box today, and these beans are gorgeous. I'm almost afraid to ever plant them 'cause they're so purdy.

@roamwhereiwant2, I think you could get some good runner beans in Georgia if you time the planting so the early autumn nights are cool enough. When I've grown Scarlet Runner in Albuquerque, I planted them so they got a moderate amount of daytime shade, too.

Petronius, I think it's worth a try. But tell me, what makes Greek spinach so special? I'm pretty fond of spinach and now I'm wondering whether I'm missing out.

Yvonne