Turkey Craw Beans?

[ContainerTed]

My sister-in-law says she got some "Turkey Craw" green beans from a neighbor up in northeastern Tennessee. Apparently she and my brother are saying it is the best ever. (BTW, when he holds his breath, my brother is the original Purple Hillbilly)

Anybody ever heard of this one??

Anybody know where to get seed?

Ted

[RandyG]

Check with Bill Best in Berea, KY for information on heirloom bean varieties. He also knows a lot about tomato varieties. You can find lots of links to Bill on the internet.
Randy

[ContainerTed]

Thanks, Randy. I'll do that. While I've got your attention, I would like to say that Mountain Fresh and Mountain Fresh Plus are some fine tomatos. (I'm assuming you had something to do with them). Grew them both this year and .....WOW!!!

Thanks again for that lead on TC beans

Ted

[mjc]

I'd love to hear a history of that bean...based on the name, I'd imagine it would be a good one.

Ahhhh....the magic of Google

An heirloom from the southern states of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, the original seed is said to come from a turkey’s craw brought home by a hunter who is thought to have been an African American slave in the 1800s.

The Turkey Craw bean is typically a pole bean. It is a heavy producer of 5-6 inch pods and can be used for snap or dry. The bean has a beautiful green color and is great as a fresh bean. It has deep bean flavor and is sweet, rich, buttery, and meaty in taste and texture.

Clemson has one called Turkey Gizzard (none available)...I wonder if it is the same?

http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/seed/heirloom.htm

[Tormato]

Ted,
PM me a mailing address if you can't find a source for them.

Gary

[WVTomatoMan]

Here is an excerpt from my Pole Green Bean Recommendations thread:

A bean that deserves honorable mention is the Turkey Craw. This bean tastes very good. However you must pick them young or they get stringy and if there is one thing that I don't like in a green bean it's stringiness (is that a word?). If you don't pick them young then let them go a little bit and use them as a shelly bean. They are excellent as a shelly bean, one of the best if not the best.

So, yes it can be very good as a green bean, but I'm tellin' ya you gotta watch out or they'll get stringy. I don't like that.

I think if you do a google (bing or whatever) search you should be able to find them commercially.

Good luck.

Randy

p.s. Sorry I didn't answer you sooner, but I get busy and don't always get a chance to log on to this site.

[freelancer79d]

Turkey Craw Bean: This bean is the dominant heirloom bean in an area within a hundred mile radius of Cumberland Gap where the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia join. Brown on one end and buff on the other, it is often sold at farmers' markets and roadside stands.

Turkey Craw Variant: Given to us by Steve Todd from Knoxville, Tennessee, this Turkey Craw variant is deep beige in color and heavy yielding.

Goose Bean: A deep beige bean grown throughout the Southern Appalachians, the original seeds were supposedly taken from the craw of a wild goose shot by a hunter. This large and tender bean is one of the most popular Appalachian beans. It is also known as the Goose Neck Bean and sometimes as the Goose Craw Bean.

[ContainerTed]

I grew two seed colors of this bean this year. I did not see a significant difference between the two on size of the bean pods or, most importantly, the flavor.

This is a very large bean and requires a small change in how long they cook before getting tender. Since we like all garden beans as "green" beans, without a lot of "shelly" beans in them, we pick them while they are still green on the vines. I let a few get to the "shelly" point and found that they really don't make a "soup" bean (such as pintos) that meets our taste expectations. So, we don't plan to grow them again very soon.

I would like to thank those who helped us out with some seeds for this one.

Ted

[ContainerTed]

Originally Posted by freelancer79d

Turkey Craw Bean: This bean is the dominant heirloom bean in an area within a hundred mile radius of Cumberland Gap where the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia join. Brown on one end and buff on the other, it is often sold at farmers' markets and roadside stands.

Having been born and raised in the Tri-Cities area (Bristol, Kingsport, Johnson City) area, and now living in northeast Tennessee, I respectfully disagree with freelancer. Actually, I am currently living just 26 miles from the Cumberland Gap. We do a lot of shopping in Middlesboro, KY. The dominant bean here in these parts is a toss up between White Half Runners and a local one called "Peanut Beans". Both are "string"-type beans and both are sold in abundance at the flea markets in Tazewell and LaFollette both fresh and canned. The next most popular one is the Rattlesnake Bean.

Don't know where freelancer got that data, but most folks here in Campbell and Claiborne Counties had never heard of Turkey Craw. That's why I had to get seed from Fusion (Again, Thanks to Fusion for the help).

Ted

[dustdevil]

Ted, freelancer79 data came from SMAC, Inc. bean catalog. Bill Best is the top expert on Southern heirloom beans. I've chatted with Bill and never doubt a word he says about beans. I suggest you look for a local farmer's market that sells greasy beans and then you'll really be in the right place. White half-runners are a good productive bean, but greasy beans are to die for. Bill made me a convert.

[freelancer79d]

That is correct I got the info. from Bill Best's site. I am not an expert. I was just relaying the info. that I found when looking to get some Turkey Craw for next year...a friend in the NAVY, from the tri-area (Kentucky), recommends the Turkey Craw as a great tasting bean.

[ContainerTed]

Devil, you are right about the Greasy Beans. I helped a neighbor get a crop of those by spraying for Japanese Beetles that were eating everything in sight. Never did get a taste of them, but their reputation is definitely just what you said - "to die for". They're on the list for next year.

Freelancer, I hope you haven't taken offense. While I don't doubt your information source was something printed, it's just that I ran into a parodox between the published information and what I was encountering on the "street" (so to speak). When that happens, I become very suspicious of the written data sources.

The one thing I AM sure of is that these mountain folks (and, yes, I am one) do not fit any particular mold and therefore are hard to say anything "collectively" about. They can be very much alike and, yet, at the same time, so very different and individual. No one statement can encapsulate them all. Bill Best might have made a better point by saying that Turkey Craw beans are one of the popular varieties grown even though that is not true here in these counties near the KY border.

I hope you haven't taken offense, as none was meant. If I was a bit coarse, then my apology is there if you would accept it.

I have learned over the years that the only thing you can say about these wonderful people here in "Appalachia" is that they are both individually and collectively very different from any place I have ever lived (And that's a good thing) - and I've lived in every corner of these United States and all over the middle as well during my 2+ decades in the US Air Force.

Ted

[freelancer79d]

None taken! just wanted to share the info i found. my friend is a down south mountian country boy too...lol never heard of the beast before he said someting about the turkey $hite bean....lol

[JayzJourney]

This is crazy, because I lived in Tazewell TN for a year and turkey craw beans were always at the farmers market and roadside stands? Hancock AND Claiborne counties....and in Middlesboro ky.
Its how I fell in love with the bean and brought it to north central ky to grow it.