cranberry beans « Putney Farm

Harvest continues here at the farm and we just enjoyed our first batch of cranberry beans. The mother of a good friend gave us these beans to grow and we are glad she did. Not only are they beautiful, but the cranberry beans have great texture and a flavor with a hint of chestnuts. We picked the beans, dried them, shelled them and soaked them, so they did require more work than some of our crops. We made a cranberry bean purée with a bit of sage, potato, béchamel, olive oil and parmesan cheese, and it was a great dish (recipe soon). Well worth the effort.

Otherwise, the season winds down, but we still have some pleasant surprises. The melons are very tasty and the tomatoes are still ripe and sweet. We have a few days of heat coming so another good batch of tomatoes is likely. The strawberries thrive and the peppers move to red (and even hotter, if possible). A nice batch of potatoes is a bonus.

In the orchard, the figs are pretty, but somewhat lacking in flavor, we will see what the heat does. And we wait for the Comice pears to ripen. They are close, but when the pears are ready, then so is winter. We can wait a little longer….