| Winged
bean/Asparagus bean (Psophocarpus
tetragonolobus)
Lablab Bean/Hyacinth Bean
Lablab purpureus (syn.
Dolichos lablab)
It’s a bean you will find
on farms, in old gardens – a
humble plant that is incredibly hardy
and immensely productive. In warm
climates the plants live for many
years, producing edible pods, flowers
and leaves all year round. Like the
choko, many Queenslanders remember
these plants growing in the gardens
of their youth. Its time they made
a resurgence.
Lablab Beans are very high yielding
plants. When in full production, you
need to pick beans virtually daily.
The beans are best lightly cooked
in stews or Asian dishes. Pick the
pods while young, before the seeds
have swollen fully. Use scissors to
cut the bean from the flower stem
so as not to damage it. Lablab Beans
will continue to flower from these
old flower stems so extra care results
in more beans.
Poor Man’s Bean, Tongan
Bean – This is an old
plant that has been grown in Queensland
since early last century. The flowers
are deep pink and the beans are a
bright, pale, luminous green, resembling
snow peas in shape while young. There
is some variability in plants from
different sources with some having
purplish edged pods.
Pean – Another
form, widely grown in Queensland in
the past, is known locally as the
‘Pean’. Supposedly this
is due to the fact that the immature
pods resemble a cross between a pea
and a bean. This form has white flowers
and pale green, broad beans. The seeds
are brown.
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