Richard Hebda
Small-seeded red beans are delicious! We have featured a couple of varieties in our crop-climate descriptions including Kashmir from India and the traditional Costa Rica Red variety. We introduce you to a highly productive small red bean developed and introduced in British Columbia. Shuswap Red variety deserves to be widely grown in Canada where the climate permits.
In general, small-seeded red beans are scramblers. They produce long vines some almost reaching the stature of a pole bean, but they are not true pole beans. Their growth is determinate, meaning it stops at the end of the season and vines mostly dry out. Plants often begin to flower early and continue to do so until they begin to yellow. In my experience all my red-seeded, small bean varieties have matured seed by mid September. The beans of this group are not large like kidney beans and their flavour is more delicate.
Shuswap Red bean came to us via Annapolis Seeds of Nova Scotia (https://annapolisseeds.com/products/shuswap-red-bean). According to Annapolis Seeds the seeds originated from Golden Ears Farm in Chase, BC (in the Shuswap region) and were brought to Nova Scotia by Steph and Dan of Twisted Brook Farm, when they moved from the Shuswap Lake area.
Wanting to know more about the history of this productive bean, I asked my Shuswap friend Jim Cooperman to connect with Golden Ears Farm, and they reported that the late Ralph Moore of Creston in BC’s Kootenay Region developed the variety. You can learn lots about the Shuswap in Jim’s beautiful book Everything Shuswap Volume 1 (2023, Shuswap Press Ltd. www.shuswappress.ca).
Shuswap Red plants grow as scrambling vines with a thick basal stem and many branches. Compared to other bean varieties the roots are robust and strongly attached to the soil. Vines have well developed tendrils and stop growing in the late summer having reached 80 -100 cm (32-40”) long.
Pods are produced mostly from the base to middle of each runner. The pods are straight to slightly curved toward the tip, of medium length and slightly flattened. Typical pods reach 13-14 cm (about 5 ½ “) long, 1 cm (2/5”) wide and 0.6-0.7 cm (less than ¼”) thick. The point is short to medium long and moderately curved, reaching slightly less than 1 cm (2/5”). Unripe pods have a pale peachy rose hue then turn beige when dry.
Each pod yields six or seven seeds, rarely as many as nine. Seed are small, brownish red to maroon, bean-shaped and flattened. Broadly the outline is oval however when tightly packed in the pod they can be rectangular and even have angled flattened ends. The oval scar is slightly depressed and is surrounded by a dark brown margin. Seeds are generally 1 cm (2/5”) long, 0.7 cm (1/4”) wide and 0.5 cm (1/5”) thick.
Yellowing plants and ripe pods of Shuswap Red bean on thin bamboo poles, Brentwood Bay Saanich Peninsula, September 14, 2024. Photo Richard Hebda.
Shuswap Red seems to develop slowly before blooming. In the normal weather year of 2023 all seeds had germinated within 10 days from a May 13 sowing. By June 11 plants reached the two-leaf stage and were 30 cm (12”) tall by June 29. They began to vine about July 3 and by July 24 sprawled widely on the ground showing many white flowers. Flat pods 5-10 cm long (2-4 “) occurred abundantly August 6 while the plants were still blooming. Pods had started to yellow by August 21 and were harvested in early September (Sept 4-8).
Over the three years that I have recorded Shuswap Red’s annual growth, the seed-to-harvest-interval has varied from 109 days (2025), 114-119 days (2023) and a much longer 128 days in the cool damp year of 2024. In 2024 the seeds were planted10-14 days later (end of May) than in the other two years. Dry beans usually mature more quickly from later plantings. This observation suggests cool damp summers may strongly delay harvests of this variety.
I have grown the Shuswap Red scrambling on the ground, on bamboo poles and on a stucco mesh fence. The best yield came from the fence support, 0.39 kg/m, an exceptional result from a small- seeded bean. Pole-supported plants produced about 0.26 kg / m still a solid yield. Pods of plants scrambling on the ground showed sign of mold because of late season cooling temperatures and dampness. They also got quite dirty.
The seeds of this variety work well for traditional red-bean dishes, such as Costa Rican rice and beans. They are excellent for a red-bean curry (rajma) as described in a previous article on Kashmir bean (https://heritagepotato.ca/heritage-beans/kashmir-bean-mountain-bounty/). For those who may find red kidney beans a bit large, Shuswap Red serves admirably in chili dishes.
We continue to discover remarkable Canadian beans, reliable replacements for those from warmer climates. Shuswap Red provides and excellent example producing high yields of a widely adaptable dry red bean.