Pache Baghala - Gilani Bush Bean

$6.00

~50 seeds per packet.

This bean was shared with me by my friend Saba (of sabajamsf.com !) who told me she loves ghormeh sabzi, but she did not grow up eating it at home. This has been one of the ways Saba feels like she stands apart from much of the Iranian diaspora; her family is from Rasht, a city in Northern Iran, and she has food memories that are distinct from many of her Iranian peers in the US. Northern Iran, also called Shomal, is home to a vast array of cultures, foods, crops, climates, and languages that are not found in other parts of Iran. One of those crops is pache baghala, which is a beautiful little bean.

Pache baghala is most often used to cook a special dish called Baghali Ghatogh. I, along with many other Iranians, have never had Baghali Ghatogh. It’s made by soaking and then double peeling the beans (removing the seed coat), then boiling them with garlic, turmeric, and dill — just enough cooking so that it doesn’t get mushy. After that it’s served over rice, and if you’re fancy, with some eggs cooked into it. Here’s a proper recipe, except that it substitutes lima beans. Makes sense, considering that pache baghala hasn’t been available in this country until literally this moment. 

I hope you make pache baghala with the fruits of your labor next Fall!

~50 seeds per packet.

This bean was shared with me by my friend Saba (of sabajamsf.com !) who told me she loves ghormeh sabzi, but she did not grow up eating it at home. This has been one of the ways Saba feels like she stands apart from much of the Iranian diaspora; her family is from Rasht, a city in Northern Iran, and she has food memories that are distinct from many of her Iranian peers in the US. Northern Iran, also called Shomal, is home to a vast array of cultures, foods, crops, climates, and languages that are not found in other parts of Iran. One of those crops is pache baghala, which is a beautiful little bean.

Pache baghala is most often used to cook a special dish called Baghali Ghatogh. I, along with many other Iranians, have never had Baghali Ghatogh. It’s made by soaking and then double peeling the beans (removing the seed coat), then boiling them with garlic, turmeric, and dill — just enough cooking so that it doesn’t get mushy. After that it’s served over rice, and if you’re fancy, with some eggs cooked into it. Here’s a proper recipe, except that it substitutes lima beans. Makes sense, considering that pache baghala hasn’t been available in this country until literally this moment. 

I hope you make pache baghala with the fruits of your labor next Fall!

Growing and Seed Harvesting Instructions

Plant these beans in the Spring when the threat of frost has passed. They are bush beans and don’t require trellising. Expect these plants to get a couple feet tall, and to be very well behaved and orderly. The dry beans will be ready at the end of the summer. Harvest the pods when they are brown and dry, and thresh and winnow like normal to separate the seeds from the pods.