SC - Old World Bean

[E. Rain]

[with apologies to those who've already read this on the Madrone Culinary
list]

Good morning, while reading a book on Tuscany last night I came across the
following mini-article:

Zolfino: the bean Columbus didn't find

Christopher Columbus brought many bean varieties back to Europe from the
Americas" explained Marco Noferi, an organic grower from the Paterna
cooperative*, "but a few were indigenous to Europe, including the zolfino.
It probably formed part of the genetic dowry of legumes used by the
Etruscans and Romans centuries earlier."
The zolfino is pale yellow in color (zolfo means sulpher in Italian) and is
famous for its creamy texture, richness of flavor, and almost imperceptibly
thin skin, making it easier to digest than other beans.
"These Beans are  strange" Noferi added.  "It's as if they disdained any but
the ground here in the Valdarno-all efforts to grow them elsewhere have
failed.  they are quite tricky to cultivate: they don't like anything but
rainwater, and rot if you try irrigation."
Ten years ago the zolfino had all but disappeared, cultivated only by a
handful of growers.  After a mention on a television food program, they
became all the rage among wealthy Florentines and fancy restaurants - and
their wholesale price tripled.
"Our beans are naturally dried [as opposed to kiln-dried] and need no
soaking before cooking.  You just boil them until tender and eat them with
some good olive oil; their profumo fills the table - we wouldn't think of
eating any other kind."


*in Arrezzo, Tuscany

This quote is from The Food Lover's Companion to Tuscany by Carla Capalbo,
Chronicle books, San Francisco 1998.


A quick web Search yielded only one source for them in the US, and sadly the
beans available there are cooked, but hey at least we can taste them & be
able to compare them to a bean more easily available here so that when
cooking medieval bean dishes we can say "I'm using X bean in this dish as it
best represents the flavor of the medieval bean I'm familiar with":
http://www.chefshop.com/ObjectBuilder/ObjectBuilder.iwx?ProcessName=SectionP
age&Section_ID=58

It may also be that various Italian food shops that aren't on line carry
these dried so that we can try using them in medieval recipes after all :->

Ciao,
Eden
___________________________________________________________
WARNING: Dates on the calendar are closer than they appear!

Eden Rain
raghead at liripipe.com