Growing Tongue of Fire Beans

I tried growing some Tongue of Fire bean seeds that were bought from Swallowtail Garden Seeds some time back. A search on the Net yielded some information that this cultivar I grew is a type of Borlotti bean, whose young pods and dried seeds from mature bean pods can be harvested, cooked and eaten.

Tongue of Fire is a bush-type bean and it forms a compact, tidy bush in the garden. I reckon it can be grown very well in a large pot with soil that is kept moist all the time in the highrise apartment. Direct sunshine must be available for about 6 hours or more for healthy growth.

It is a plant that is quite easy to grow and mine cropped quite heavily and I simply love the decorative pinkish red streaks that run all over the light green bean pods. Unfortunately, I have never been able to leave the beans on the plants long enough to see them growing up plump before harvesting as I have faced a very bad snail and slug problem at that time when I grew this bean. These pests would always climb up and chew a hole or two or even eat up part of the tender bean pod.

The young pods that I harvested were stir-fried and consumed like a typical snap bean and they tasted great. But the pods must be harvested quite young, just before the red streaks becoming too visible, as once that happens, I find the pods a little fibrous to eat.

If left on the plant to mature further, the pods can become quite long to about 15 cm lengthwise and the sides would also plump up accordingly. What is more striking by then is that the pods will have acquired an almost whitish background while the streaks would have redden so much that a very beautiful art form by Mother Nature is born.