Gigandes Beans

[Jeannine Anne]

I start them indoors quite early and pot them on a couple of times , by the time they go out they are pretty big, and we do have the longest growing season in Canada in this area. I managed them in the UK too by using the same method.

The datess hown I belive are to the dry stage and they can be harvested a bit early and dried off the vine.

XX Jeannine

[janezee]

Yes, the 100 days would be for fresh use, and the 140 would be for drying harvest.

[Jeannine Anne]

My beans have arrived and they are not at all what I am looking for.

Elephantes beans the very largest size of white bean , which come only from Kastoria and have to be 1800 grams per 1000 beans

Gigantes the giant size have to be 1200-1800 grams per 1000 and also only come from Kastoria

These are from Kavala and are classified in Greece as large white beans .

They are in great condition, contain various sizes but not are big enough or from the right region to be considered true Gigandes beans by Greek regulations.

I have no doubt they will be great for cooking but are not what I am looking for.

I will try to germinate a couple of the largest ones for curiosity

They are a runner bean and may make nice plants if they germinate but they are not authentic Gigandes or Elephantes which have to fall into the above catagories for weight and size and they must come from the region of Kastoria to bear the name.

They are way off the size I am looking for..the search goes on.....

XX Jeannine

[Petronius_II]

One thing I may try as an experiment, at some hypothetical future date, is growing these side-by-side with some of the big white runner beans that Native Seeds/Search carries:

https://www.nativeseeds.org/index.ph...s/runner-beans

Tarahumara Bordal and Aztec White appear to be very similar to the beans I got from Dar, for which I'm still immensely grateful 'cause they're so purrrrdy.

Four Corners, I'm guessing, doesn't have much if any advantage over the generic Scarlet Runner beans that are easy to find.

[Petronius_II]

Okay, there's something going on here that I'm just not getting, Jeannine and others.

Thanks to Jeannine, I finally got off my butt and figured out that I do have fully recharged AAA batteries for the coin scale I've used for selling coins on Ebay, and after numerous rather comical trials-and-errors, I finally remembered the, um, Byzantine routine you have to go through to recalibrate the scale. Results, I can now get the scale to measure the 100 gram calibration weight as, well, 100 grams.

I get 10 of the beans I got from Dar, chosen at random so they're not all the biggest of the 20, as weighing 25.3 grams, which puts them well over Jeannine's specified weight criteria for Gigantes and Elephantes. My scale obviously doesn't measure whether they come from Kastoria or not. But they do average over 1.8 grams apiece.

Are you perhaps looking at the dry beans and comparing their size to the size of the moist, freshly shelled beans, Jeannine? 'Cause if so, that's not a fair comparison.

[Jeannine Anne]

No, I have grown these beans for many years and worked out mine in much larger numbers than 10. They are nice and healthy looking though and much nicer than the ones I get in the Greek deli here, the 9 biggest are bigger than any of my other whites I currently have including the probably 10 or twelve packets I have from various places marked Gigandes.

The thing with the Kastoria ones is that they HAVE to be that size to carry the name, it is a legal thing, and that is where I got my originals from so although these look super there are bigger ones out there..so the search goes on.

I have quite a decent sized collection of runner beans, probably 10 or so white varieties and many other colours including black, it has been a bit if a passion for 20 or so years.

I find them lovely to grow and the flavour of most of them is good.

The gigandes/gigantes, elephant or otherwise have a very thin skin compared to most so they cook beautifully.

I still have Just one bean left from my last lot saved, the others, the last three, did not germinate last year, hence the search, and I saved this ,well, just cos I did I guess,I am tempted to sow it but then I don't have one left for comparison.

You will enjoy them very much though, they are really good beans, I was quite impressed when they arrived as the condition is great, and I would not hesitate to say to others who are considering them to go ahead and buy them.

George is looking into finding me some Elephantes so hope is still there.

Bear in mind you won't find seeds marked as Gigantes as they are not allowed to use that name due to it's protected status, but there are a great many types of runner beans and they become an obsessive hobby..

XX Jeannine

[Petronius_II]

Well, it still puzzles me, because if George's beans average over 2 grams per bean, which they apparently do because that's where Dar got his, but they're smaller in size than the Kastoria gigantes, which are only required to average 1.8 grams, then there must be a difference in density. So I'm sitting here not knowing as much as I'd like about seed density and genetics and so on... Tomato seeds can vary quite a bit in size from one variety to another, even when from the same supplier, so a difference in density may have something to do with genetics?

If on the other hand George's seeds are simply drier than some of the big white runner beans you're looking for, that's almost certainly a good thing in terms of their ability to germinate after X amount of time in storage.

...Or maybe I'm just pretty dense myself, who knows?...

[Jeannine Anne]

If I compare my one remaining seed to the largest of the new ones it is distinctly different..wether a different density or state of dryness I don't know but visually it is bigger and this is what I am looking for regardless of the Greek rules.

XX Jeannine

[Fusion_power]

Have George check this place out.

http://www.arosis.gr/en/ProductsCategories/3/Beans.html

DarJones

[Jeannine Anne]

Thank you Dar, I actually know this site but they haven't had them in the online shop for a while. I was going to have them sent to my son in Holland. They are pictured but not there.

Maybe George could find them.

Iguess this may come and go so I look periodically.

I found them imported in the Us a few months ago but they would not ship to Canada.

My deli says they cannot get them either so they get the others.

Thank you though I aprreciate any help.

The beans I got are lovely compared to what I have been buying , thanks to you so am very grateful..I was really pleased to get them.

Anyone done any germination tests yet?

XX Jeannine

[Petronius_II]

***sits and tries to figure out how I can e-mail Jeannine a copy of my coin scale so she can use it to weigh the one bean she has***

...As an attachment? I don't think that's going to work either...

[Jeannine Anne]

Great idea, but I am useless at maths and computers so perhaps better not. I could never have come up with the grading sysytem and most of it goes over my head when I read it. I agree it makes little sense when compared to your gadget but that is what the info is online. I am more interested in looking at them.

Wait till I find the really big ones and I will send you some.

XX Jeannine

[allgreektome.net]

Sorry Jeannine for the seeds is not what you expected for. In case I found any bigger once, I'll send you some for free. Dar, yes I am aware of this site, however I have not try them, and I am not sure if they are sun-dried or oven-dried. I prefer "bulk" products rather than retail brands.

Regards,
George

[Petronius_II]

Arosis states on their website that they eliminate insects from their products using a technology that includes this:

The products are stored in heated [emphasis mine-PA2] airtight chambers. At a preset time, the oxygen is taken out while azote [Nitrogen-PA2] is added (with the ECOGEN machine by ISOLCELL ITALIA SPA).

I rather doubt their packaged beans will germinate. Maybe, but probably not.

They sure do have some nice-sounding recipes on their site, though.

[Jeannine Anne]

Hi George, there is absolutely no reason why you should send me beans fro free, it is very kind of you to offer but if you find bigger ones I insist on paying for them. The beans you sent are beautiful and I am very happy with them.

I suspect that I will probably not find them commercially as I got my original ones in Kastoria and they were not processed.

I am going to try and grow some of the bigger ones from your packets anyway.

You did well and I thank you.

If you do find any bigger ones, even a few, I would be grateful for them but I insist on paying you, that is fair.

I am curious, if someone wants to grow them can they be bought isn seed packets and if so what are they called.

XX Jeannine