Macuzalito bean
$4.00
(Phaseolus vulgaris)
Bush with runners; this bean doesn’t need trellising, but it likes to sprawl a little. We grow it on its own, and also interplanted with corn, where it climbs a little but isn’t vigorous enough to risk pulling down the corn plants. Macuzalito produces mostly red pods, though a few plants are always green-podded. Seeds look like miniature kidney beans. Easy to grow, harvest, and shell, we call this our “utility bean”: not exceptional but dependable and good for any recipe. Originally from Honduras, it was released in 2004 after being bred by a partnership of researchers and farmers brought together by the Foundation for Participatory Research with Honduran Farmers (FIPAH), an organization which works with the Canadian NGO SeedChange. It was brought to Ontario a few years later by Rebecca Ivanoff, who gave it to Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds, where we got it. A bean with a wonderful trail of local and international connections, Macuzalito thrives here.
95 days to maturity.
50 seeds/packet.
In stock
Plant after last frost; soil must be warm or seed will rot. If growing on corn, wait to plant until corn is about 3” tall, or two weeks after corn is planted. Sow 1” deep. Space bush beans 2-4” apart. Pick dry beans when pods are fully dry; seed must be dry enough to not dent with a fingernail for storage. Dry beans can be further dried on a tarp, then threshed by dancing on them and winnowing away the chaff.