Bush Bean (semi-runner in a shady area)/ Dry Bean / Snap Bean when young (remove strings, see Maxi’diwiac’s description below)
Why do we like this bean?
Hidatsa Red (Ama’ca hi’ci) is an old Mandan and Hidatsa bean long grown by Indigenous peoples in the Great Northern Plains region of the Upper Missouri river basin (now North Dakota). Over generations, the Indigenous stewards of Hidatsa Red (Ama’ca hi’ci) created an amazingly productive and early dry bean. The hardy plants are easy to maintain and stay compact (about 18 inches) when grown in a sunny spot, but will put out runners and climb when in a more shady spot. The beautiful red-burgundy beans taste divine cooked in soups, stews and on their own: they are creamy, meaty, flavourful.
A bit of history:
Hidatsa Red is likely the bean named ‘Ama’ca hi’ci’ mentioned by Maxi’ diwiac (Buffalo Bird Woman) in the 1917 book “The Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians”. You can read the book here.
Maxi’ diwiac explains how the Hidatsa used beans (which included the Red, Black, White, Spotted and Shield Figured varieties) :
“I have already described to you some of the dishes we made, and still make, with beans. Following are some messes I have not described:
Ama’ca Di’hĕ, or Beans-Boiled. The beans were boiled in a clay pot with a piece of buffalo fat, or some bone grease. If the beans were dried beans, they were boiled a little longer than squash is boiled–a half hour or more. Spring salt, or other seasoning, was not used.
Green beans, shelled from the pod, were sometimes prepared thus boiled with buffalo fat or bone grease; but green beans did not have to be boiled quite as long as dried beans.
Green Beans Boiled in the Pod. Green beans in the pod we boiled and ate as a vegetable from the time they came in until fall; but we did not plant beans, as we did corn, to make them come in late in the season, that we might then eat them green.
Green beans in the pod were boiled in a clay pot, with a little fat thrown in. Pods and seeds were eaten together.
But a green bean pod has in it two little strings that are not very good to eat. At meal time the boiled pod was taken up in the fingers and carried to the eater’s mouth. At one end of the pod is always a kind of little hook; the unbroken pod was taken into the mouth with this little hook forward, between the teeth; and the eater, seizing the little hook between thumb and finger, drew it out of his mouth with the two little strings that were always attached to the hook. [Or remove strings before cooking]
Green Corn and Beans. Pounded green shelled corn was often boiled with green beans, shelled from the pod.”
Hidatsa Red (Ama’ca hi’ci) first entered the seed trade via the Oscar Will Seed Company in 1915 who described it as “hardy, drought resistant and an excellent baking bean.” See our image for a description of Hidatsa Red (Ama’ca hi’ci) in the 1922 Oscar Will Seed Company catalogue.
How to Plant: Plant bean seeds in the spring when the soil warms up. For us that is the end of May. Space seeds 3 inches or so apart and sow 1 inch or so deep. Thin to 6 inches apart once seedlings are up. You can also start bean seeds indoors about 2-3 weeks before you want to plant them outside to get a head start on things.
How to Pick Dry Beans: Pick beans when the pods are dry on the plant. All of our dry bean varieties have to reliably dry down by around Sept 15 (when we risk getting frost) and this one does. However, if there is a frost threatening and your beans still need time to dry, pick the pods and bring them inside to dry. They are ready as dry beans when the pods are ‘crunchy’ dry. Shell and use.
Within Canada only shipping on beans, thank you.
