In search of blue beans

In the late summer, early fall I "harvested" a couple of pods off of a bean plant my son had planted in the backyard. The plant must have been attractive to rabbits because he was grazed on throughout the growing season. When it was time for fall clean up I noticed that it had a couple of bean pods on it. I picked them and opened them. The beans were a wonderful baby blue color. I had no idea beans could be blue. I put them into my pocket to show my wife. That evening when I pulled them out of my pocket I was surprised to find that they had changed to a brown color. That started my search for blue beans. I learned that an heirloom bean had been found in Italy that was a rich, blue color. Joseph Simcox is a plant explorer and he named the bean 'Nonna Agnes.' At that time finding a source of Nonna Agnes was difficult. A few places seemed to be selling online and I was eventually able to get some. I planted my first seeds in the spring of 2019. At harvest time I was disappointed by the coloration. No blue beans. I learned from others that the temperature at time of maturity influences seed color. Cooler temperatures increase the chances of getting blue beans.

Indoor Nonna Anges

This is my indoor set-up.
Pretty basic
The first pod produced 4 pretty beans

BestBlueBeans Nonna Agnes

In the winter of 18/19 I began a quest to grow blue beans. Born of whimsy this dream (obsession) resulted in locating Nonna Anges beans. These are beans that MAY be blue or NOT depending on temperature at time of maturity. I am not sure what the other factors influencing colors are but the quest continues These are nicest blue beans from the 2020 season and just a small percentage of the total beans.

You may find a few for yourself at ETSY shop BestBlueBeans.

A chocolate bar

The process went well.
The product delicious.
I learned a few things that I hope to bring to the next batch.

The first roasted cacao beans

These are my first roast. I used a heat gun and roasted for about 20 minutes. After a while a few beans began to "pop" and I reduced heat and roasted for about 5 minutes more. Admittedly I had no real plan.

The beans were peeled by hand. Tonight or tomorrow they will be broken into nibs and placed into the melanguer.

Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon'

Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon'--this tree is my first successful graft (winter 06/07) and it made the trip north to Iowa City with me. These are annual spring pictures 2016-2020

Bean to bar chocolate

I have intermittently thought about making chocolate from beans. COVID-19 has been interesting in that it has provided some opportunity to explore things in more depth than I have in a long time.

I took the plunge and ordered a melanger and beans and molds and hope to be able to produce some dark chocolate bars for family members for the holidays

Grown from seed. I do not recall when I germinated this seedling but it has stood out for a long time
It was one of the few maples I tranplanted in my "big move" in 2013.
2020 has been the best year for it for fall colors. The oranges and yellows were discovered on the back of the tree

Acer Shirasawanum 'Aureum'

Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' is a special cultivar
I have had mine since 2007
It has survived ice off the roof twice in Keokuk, IA and survived a November 2013 move to Iowa City.
It usually does not have much fall color for me.
This year a few leaves colored up so I collected them for a "best of" group photo

Acer (longipes) amplum subsp. amplum 'Gold Coin'

This is Acer 'Gold Coin' fall colors. Excited to see how it looks in spring as it is supposed to be among the best yellow colored maples

Nonna Agnes indoors in Iowa

This is Nonna Agnes indoors. A mid-fall planting in a vanilla ice cream tub. It seemed to be growing well in kitchen window, so I provided a wire for it to climb. It will be interesting to watch it grow this winter.

Asian maples in Iowa

Three maples

Shirasawanum-hybrid grown from seed

Shirasawnum 'Autumn Moon' - grafted in 2006/2007

Sieboldianum (species) All have been hardy with minimal damage in Iowa City

2019 BestBlueBeans

These are photos from 2019. I only had a few bean plans in 2019 as the Nonna Agnes beans were scarce. Most of the seeds I purchased were not the desired blue color but they produced some nice seeds.