Purple Podded Pole

The purple podded pole bean firstly was Discovered in an Ozark garden in the 1930s. The Purple Podded Pole Bean produces a heavy yield of beautiful, deep purple bean pods that are 5″ to 7″ long and about 1/2″ thick. They are flavorful, high quality, meaty, and string-less. The purple pole beans are borne on sturdy, purple-tinged vines that climb vigorously to 6′ tall.

Planting Purple Pole beans: Install a twiggy tee-pee and plant Purple Podded Pole Beans around it so that you may guide its vines. The purple pole beans are easy to discern among the foliage for easy harvest by little hands. Once blanched, the yummy Beans turn bright green.

What Makes The Purple Podded Pole Beans Purple?

They contain a natural group of chemicals called anthocyanins. It’s what gives the purple color to the bean. Anthocyanins are also what make roses and also geraniums red, as well as cornflowers and delphiniums blue.

Not yellows as well as oranges, though; those shades come from carotenoids, which likewise are in charge of specific reds in plants. With beets and bougainvilleas, the red comes from yet one more all-natural pigment, called betacyanin.

Get back to anthocyanins. Just how does an anthocyanin make one vegetable red make and another one blue?

Acidity Of The Purple Podded Pole Bean

The acidity of the cell sap seems to be the key here. Anthocyanins change shades with any changes in acidity.

Keep in mind, the green color, which is still present but covered up by the anthocyanin.

A comparable thing takes place when you cook red cabbage. It transforms to “colorless” after some time. You can also expect purple broccoli, purple asparagus, purple tomatillos, even purple peppers to lose their purple color after cooking. Red peppers seem to stay red, though, because carotenoids provide their red shade.

Purple’s Peculiar Purposes

It may appear crazy to grow a purple vegetable if it is most likely to turn green anyway after you cook it. It’s not as if that purple shade does anything for flavor.

In nature, though, anthocyanins have a purpose. Such as bring in bugs to blossoms for pollination. They also safeguard plants from ultraviolet radiation, which is why you discover purple in more than a few plants. Carrot “shoulders” exposed to sunlight for long enough even turn purple once in a while.

If you want to minimize color change and keep them purple… make sure that… prior to cooking you put your purple podded pole beans in vinegar or lemon juice to raising the level of acidity. Some experimentation may be in order. Lots of fun!

Want to know how to preserve and contain pole beans for use later in the year? Click here to read this study from Utah State University.

When to harvest purple pole beans: Purple pole beans are ready to harvest one to two weeks after flowering. For fresh use, pick the purple bean pods as soon as it is well-filled. For dried bean use, harvest in about 70 days, when the purple pole beans start to dry on the plant. Finally, once the beans are ready for harvest, you can replant them, as to regrow for next year. Or, you could Cook them for a delicious snack.

Want to learn how to cook purple pole beans? Click here to get an amazing recipe for the purple podded pole bean from Ediblesanfrancisco.

Want to learn more about the nutritional aspects of purple podded pole beans as well as other beans? Click here, now.

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