purple beans?!?!?!

I am an avid fan of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). If you are saying, 'what?', then you can go here to find out more about what CSA is, and even search to find farms offering CSA in your own community: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/


Ok, on to the purple beans.

Have you ever seen them?

I sure hadn't until yesterday when I picked up my CSA share and got home to inspect the contents of my box: butternut squash, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, Japanese eggplant, and these stringy purple beans. They look very much like the standard green bean, except they are a few inches longer, and PURPLE!

I have to admit that on first glance they almost looked like snakes. But I was fairly certain that farmer Ken wasn't trying to gift me baby snakes.

So, I had to do a little sleuthing to figure out just what I had on my hands. (This is my second year as a CSA subscriber, and last year, there were many weeks when I had to research new vegetables. This is the first time this season that I've received something entirely foreign to me. It's one of my favorite parts about CSA!)

I think this blog posting about purple beans sums it up quite well; it's also the site from which I lifted the image used for this posting:
Market Manila

And, here's a link to the CSA I subscribe to: http://www.maplespringgardens.com/.

As always, happy cooking, happy eating, and try to keep it as earth-friendly as possible!