Remy,

There's quite a story behind the Anasazi bean. I couldn't tell you if it's true, or if it's actually about your bean. Just do a search for "1500 year old cave bean".

I'm glad you brought up the subject of this bean. I was going to contact you about it. It was the one mystery in my package from the "all bean swap". Every listing I've seen says it's a bush type. All listings, except one, says it's a shelly or dry. This may explain for all of the stringiness.

Gary

Hi Gary,
I'm glad you got a packet of them in the swap! I assume they would be for shelling since they are so stringy.
So I did a search of "1500 year old cave bean" and I didn't go really far, but I found a discussion about seed companies selling Jacob's Cattle which is a bush as Anasazi. Jacob's Cattle looks very similar to my beans. I wonder if this is true, and if so that would explain the confusion.
I also wondered about a very old variety being a bush type. I thought they, though sometimes fairly old, were a bit newer version of beans. I of course could be completely wrong.
Remy

Here is a link that might be useful: Forum Post about Anasazi

Remy,

I also received Jacob's Cattle in the swap. It is a larger bean than your Anasazi (pole). From what I've read, Jacob's Cattle is not the same bean as Anasazi (bush).

Gary

Gary,
Good to know.
Hopefully someone will come along some time with the pole/bush answer.
Remy

I started 3 years ago with Anazasis in my garden - only had about 2 dozen beans. Replanted each year, and this year I'll have about a gallon of dried beans. The second year I had rows 3 feet apart, and the beans grew across the path and climbed all over each other. As a result, they never really dried well. I found that opening the pods when they are ripe, releasing the beans and letting them dry worked well. However, next year I'll give them trellises to get them off the ground and give the plants more air circulation. I've read that they sometimes climb to 5 feet.

They started ripening in late August, but there were still lots of blooms. I picked the ripe ones, and the plants were still blooming and producing nice beans in early October. Other beans seem to ripen all at once, so these are unusual that way.

I have grown a bush type "Anasazi" bean that is a wonderful producer and I also have grown one called "1500 Year Old Bean" which looks very much like the Anasazi but is a pole bean. The 1500 Year Old Bean is a little larger but otherwise looks the same. Then there is the New Mexico Cave Bean...

Blueflint

I know this is an old conversation but I thought I would share. I've been growing Anasazi beans for about 12 years. They are definitely not Jacob's Cattle beans. When I first received them from our next door neighbor they were most definitely a pole bean. Last year they were more like a half runner. The longer we grow them the shorter they seem to become. We only grow pole beans so I don't believe we have some mysterious cross pollination occurring that allows for the plant to get smaller but the bean to look the same.

I love Anasazi beans. The "Anasazi bean" being sold in stores is a trademarked variety by a company here in Colorado. But, yes there are both BUSH and POLE versions out there. Originally i think pole was the only kind available and are an old variety once grown by the Anasazi and pueblo indians from Colorado and New Mexico. Being part pueblo indian myself it's nice to have a food to connect to that my ancestors grew.

The bush version i believe was created by Colorado State University and their bean breeding program to develop drought resistant beans and beans with disease resistance for our region. The bush version of Anasazi i believed came out of this and i have seen old USDA GRIN accessions mentioning this.

Anasazi beans are often confused with Jacob's cattle beans but are NOT the same. Also Anasazi beans seem to have replaced and ursurped the similar but different kidney bean "New Mexico Black Appaloosa" and "New Mexico Red Appaloosa" which were also originally called "New Mexico Cave Bean", ect. but are also different from "Vermont Appaloosa beans" or "vaquero beans" or "orca beans" and are basically extinct. The last ones i got of the red version of these were being sold as "Gila River Beans" but now i can't find them and i had a major crop failure last year.

the red Anasazi beans are very similar to the yellow Zuni Gold bean or aka. Four Corners Gold Bean.

I discovered in the old bean book "Great Bean Book" by Elizabeth Berry she calls BOTH the red Anasazi and the yellow Zuni Gold bean by the name "Raquel".

https://keen101.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/rediscovering-heirloom-beans/

Greetings, I do have information about the anasazi beans. In the mid 1970s, I worked with an older man named Ted Stiffler who in the 1950s and 60s, before it was illegal, would search some of the rimrock cliffs around bloomfield new mexico around the carson national forest area where he found a small cave with a anisazi pot sealed with wax. he planted and grew them locally in bloomfield but what happed from there i dont know, he has passed away but he did have children. He used to bring them to work on special occasions cooked in a crock pot like pinto beans but thes beans were much larger and one bean would almost fill a teaspoon. they tasted good similar to pintos. im sure there in bloomfied there is some local history. I think a man named harold lasiter grew some of teds beans as well but dont know if his familyis around either.

A similar story but the names are different: https://www.westword.com/restaurants/heirloom-anasazi-beans-take-root-in-todays-denver-10486864