Several communal religious settlements depend on raising their own food. Well known among these in North America are the Hutterites who have large communities in the prairies and plains of Canada and the US (https://hutterites.org/history/). Originally, from central Europe the Hutterites undertook a series of migrations over many centuries ending up via the Russian empire in Canada. Highly skilled agriculturalists, they are particularly known for an excellent heritage bean. Known as the Hutterite Soup bean, I have found it to be among the highest yielding bush varieties for a bush bean of low stature. In addition to describing the bean I briefly outline my planting technique for exceptional yields from a bush bean.
Hutterite Soup bean forms a low determinate bush that dries out fully at the end of the season. Plants branch widely just above the ground reaching 35-45 cm (14-18”) tall and bear bright white flowers. The pods are distributed along the branches some of them touching the ground. Out of curiosity, I counted from 33-57 pods per bush… that is a lot and explains the high yields. Pods are slightly to moderately curved, round in cross section, pale beige when dry. There is a short point. The shell is medium to firm and splits along back suture. Pod length ranges from 9-11 cm (about 4”) and the diameter is about 1 cm (3/8”). The point is about 1.2 cm (1/2”) long.
Usually there are 4 or 5 seeds per pod often with one seed being aborted. They are a pleasing pale green to beige having a scar surrounded by a pretty blue-grey ring. A brown line leads from the scar to a coloured patch at the seed end facing the point of the pod. This line continues as a thin white trace around the outside edge. The seed outline is oval, and beans are about 1 cm (0.9 to 1.2 cm) long. The cross section is round approximately 0.6 cm (1/4”) across.
The growing season was a relatively typical one in 2023. After an early May 6 planting of unsoaked seeds, most of the beans had sprouted by May 20. By July 3 the bushes were in full bloom. Shortly thereafter on July 19 flowers they had mostly shrivelled, and masses of green pods covered the plants. Pods filled quickly, became swollen by July 26 and began to yellow by August 2. At the end of August (29th) pods had dried and were ready to harvest. From sowing to harvest required 115 days.
The cool and damp growing year of 2024 dragged out the growing season to 125 days despite a late May sowing. I had to pull the plants and hang them on a fence to dry at the end of September. Many pods remained green as did the leaves. There were even a few scattered flowers. With the return of more typical weather in 2025 a May 13 sowing resulted in a harvest about September 5; 114 days. Many of the plants remained partly green though pods were mostly dry. Various web sites suggest 80-95 days to harvest, clearly not the case on the west coast of Canada where in general the summers are cooler than in mid continent. Accordingly, the Hutterite variety may not be suitable for short season climates with cool summers.
Despite the relatively long interval to harvest, yields are exceptional. In the two normal weather years I got 0.30 and 0.31 kg/metre (0.2 lbs /foot)of row, very high compared to typical bush beans and comparable to my high yielding standard Mayocoba (0.37 kg/m) (https://heritagepotato.ca/heritage-beans/marvellous-mayocoba-many-names-many-uses/0). The 2024 cool year yield of 0.17 kg/m (0.11 lbs/foot) again suggests a sensitivity to cool summer conditions. Other growers have also noted high yields for this variety (see Uprising Seeds https://uprisingorganics.com/collections/bean/products/bean-bush-dry-hutterite).
The high yields of 0.30 kg/m are achieved by the technique of close spaced double row planting (Zig-zag Double Row). I sow two adjacent rows 15 to 20 cm (6-8”) apart. I stagger the seed placement from row to row such that seeds are not across from each other rather they are placed in a zig-zag pattern, resembling a zipper. Seeds are spaced 10-15 cm apart (4-6”). Replacement of ungerminated beans is made within two weeks. The space between the rows is shaped into a trough where I can lay a soaker hose or water from the hose end. Using this pattern of sowing the plants compete less with each other and fill out well reducing weed cover. This technique results in high yields for all bush bean varieties.
This bean seems to have been brought to North America from Europe during the migration and resembles a Polish bean variety called Hostia. The traditional way to eat Hutterite Soup bean is not surprisingly in a soup. The soup includes garlic, onions and usually smoked sausage, ham or pork hock. Beans can be creamed or kept whole. The fascinating article at https://hutterites.org/history/hutterite-heirloom-seeds-harvest-memories/ includes a comprehensive easy-to-make recipe. The article also has lots of information on growing and harvesting the beans. It includes a note about placing dry bushes between two plastic sheets and then driving a small tractor over all. Then you simply pour out the liberated beans from the lower sheet. This technique looks like it could be adapted to any variety and any wheeled vehicle like a small car too.
Hutterite Soup beans can be purchased from several mail order sources. Considering the high yields in small spaces, this heritage variety might well become your favoured white soup bean.