Going Full Circle on Seed Search

[digitS']

I could have put this on Forum Feedback but decided to put it here.

It was a torturous route looking for Mr. Fothergill's Seeds this morning. They are at a local garden center but I'm wondering about that idea I had to grow broad beans again - thought I'd see if there's a variety that might be best for fresh use. It's a fairly common veggie in the UK. Mr. Fothergill's is from the UK ...

I finally end up with a US mailing address that's the same as for Italian Seed & Tools! I go back to that escarole thread I had about a month ago to check links I saved there. (See, how my plan works for posting things on TEG ?) I'm still a little lost. There has been some consolidation amongst Seeds for Italian Cooks, Gourmet Seeds, Seeds from Italy ... where am I? I'm looking for Fothergill's at the moment ..?

Somehow .... SOMEhow, I get off on Gleckler Seedmen. Turns out they are out of business! Where do I learn this? There's a post linked by Google to TEG by @Jared77 ! It was on @AMKuska 's thread about seed ordering!

Well, I thought I'd read Jared's post. Howsomeever, that's because I so often use the "Recent Activity" search under "Members." It gives me about 10 words from the post and I think I've got it. Looks like Gleckler's went outta business last summer ...

Consolidation, being closed down by competition, re-start-ups ..! I don't know. I mean, I don't even know broad beans!

Steve

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

have you checked with @Bluejay77 and seen if he has this bean or know how to get some? i don't see it on his website on http://abeancollectorswindow.com/ but i'm sure he MUST have a way to get a hold of some for you or give you a better suggestion.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

In Russ's "Hill of Beans" section of his website he mentions that he'll trade for anything except for soybeans and favas, so I don't think that he does those (fava another name for broad beans).

I do have a lot of fava bean seeds here. They are for the most part mutts, so you would have to do some selection for good fresh-use favas. If you are interested I could send you some seeds, no charge but I would probably want some seed sent back after harvest. I've got so many that I haven't been able to grow them out, and I may not be around to harvest them this year (might be going on a trip). I've got purple, green, reg brown, and black varieties big and small.

It's sad that Gleckler Seedsman went out of business, I really like them. Somebody needs to spread the gardening bug so that good seed companies like Gleckler never go out of business. Still plenty around, I know, but the more the merrier.

 

[digitS']

Thank you, SeedO'. Lots of outfits have Windsor, @Chickie'sMomaInNH .

Fava beans. I've grown them before but it was about 20 years ago and I don't recall the variety. I'm thinking that there must be some that are for dry beans, since that appears to be a common use for them in places like India, and for fresh.

What I think I may do is order one that they have at Seeds from Italy (link). There is their Pomona tomato that I'd like to try. Escarole, altho' only a couple of varieties to choose from, and root chicory! Wow! Maybe I'll get back to making chicory coffee again.

So much for Mr. Fothergill ... growItalian dot com

Steve

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

I think that you're right about fava beans also being used dry. Here's the description of one of the Backyard Bean & Grain Project's varieties -

"Our field cross of multiple lines of cold-hardy, tender-skinned overwintering favas. All of the parent lines are quite cold-hardy and bred to have more tender skins as a cooked dry bean, therefore eliminating the need to peel the beans. Skins are still chewy but can also be pureed for a re-fried bean-like result. Rich, smoky flavor as a dry bean. All of the parent varieties out-performed the standard small-seeded over-wintering fava, Banner, in 2012 and 2013. The current seed stock represents the surviving plants from an especially cold winter."

I wonder how they go about breeding the thin skins into them.


About chicory - you can use the Italian leafy varieties as a coffee substitute? For some reason I kept thinking about the common roadside weed when reading about chicory coffee. (I wonder if the Italian varieties will interbreed with the weed; isn't radicchio a chicory???)

 

[digitS']

@TheSeedObsesser , I think anything can substitute for anything that isn't a necessity of life. I was pleased with my experiences using roots of the chicory family as a beverage.

It's been awhile since I looked at the "literature" but I believe that the chicory used as a commercial substitute is the same species as the wild. It's a scraggly weed here, with lovely colored flowers. I was trying to learn the relationship with dandelions, also a relative and a substitute.

I was pleased with the taste of prepared dandelion root. However, I'd tried a chicory some years before and also already knew that commercial chicory coffee was, at least, okay for my tastes, as pedestrian as they may be. My! What a run-on sentence!! Sorry.

The chicory was witloof, in my home experiment. I know, that's supposed to be for winter forcing but what are you gonna do with a big box of roots in the basement after you realize that you really don't like the leaves? I'd never eaten witloof chicory, maybe never eaten radicchio, back then, about 20 years ago.

So, I left the roots down in the cold and managed to use a few, about 50:50 with "real" coffee. 'Sokay. I didn't really know what I was doing so it might have been better. Dandelion was a little better than okay for me. Altho, I still didn't know what I was doing.

Seeds from Italy has "root chicory" so, I'm guessing that it's more appropriate for roasting and beverage use.

Steve
"anything substituting for anything?" that is just a reflection of my lack of coffee, in what seems like - forever!

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Might have to try growing to cultivated varieties anyway, the varieties that Baker Creek is offering are too hard to resist. I don't know if they're root chicories - but they are pretty-looking! There radicchio look good to.

I would assume that leafy varieties are still OK for the roots, they're just probably not as big.