Lablab purpureus
Origin: Cape Verde
Improvement status: Landrace
Seeds per packet: ~30
Germination tested 12/2024: 60%
Life cycle: Annual
Lablab beans, mainly grown as an ornamental plant in this country, are also known as "hyacinth beans" and sometimes "Jefferson beans" (after than man who popularized the beans, which were grown and likely first imported to the US by African-descended people he enslaved at his plantation at Monticell). But in Cape Verde — the former Portuguese colony located 300 miles off the west coast of Africa — and elsewhere in Africa, to which they are native, lablab beans are not merely an ornamental curiosity, but a beloved food.
Known as "Fixon Pedra" in Cape Verdean Creole, and "Feijão Pedra" in Portuguese, these "rock beans" are a mild-flavored white-seeded form of lablab. They are a signature ingredient in the classic "cachupa", a national dish of the Cape Verde archipelago, and are found in many other dishes too. We're more people will take to these beans once they realize how delicious they are!
GROWING TIPS: Direct-sow seeds after all threat of frost has passed and soil begins to warm up in spring. The plants likely can produce a crop without a trellis, but yield will likely be increased if one is provided.
