Comments on: Haricots Écossés aka Cranberry Beans

By: Sandra Gautreau

Sandra Gautreau — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:45:08 +0000

Where could I purchase cranberry beans in Louisiana? We bought some in Foley Alabama at a produce stand but would love to have some closer to the Baton Rouge / Gonzales Louisiana area willing to drive anywhere to get them?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 02:03:00 +0000

It's like saying red tomato. Even red paste tomato. And the within that category there are San Marzano, Amish Paste, etc.

FWIW, I grow beans for a living, specializing in heirloom varieties. I was part of Slow Food's Terra Madre conference last year and was able to trade beans with some of the Italians in the Torino area where they grow a very particular borlotti-style cranberry. They are very different what is a "common" borlotti which is differnt than a Madeira from Portugal or Bayo from Louisiana or October beans but they're all in the Cranberry family and originally a New World variety.
Steve Sando (www.ranchogordo.com)

By: cucina testa rossa

cucina testa rossa — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 11:47:00 +0000

all the material I read and research I dug up said they were all the same bean, different names. i guess we can agree to disagree…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 20:15:00 +0000

"steve - isn't that what i said...?"

Maybe I misunderstood. Borlotti is a different bean than an October, but they're both Cranberry beans. There's are some regional variations on Borlotti and there's even a southern US one called Bayo (different than the old Mexican kind). Some cooks back east insist on Vermont Cranberry for baked beans. They're all slightly different but share the cranberry value of being dense and velvety without being starchy. But October and French Horticulture are the same bean.

I hope I'm not being pedantic here.
Steve Sando

By: cucina testa rossa

cucina testa rossa — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 17:19:00 +0000

ced – whoops, one “e” too many, thanks once again for the french lesson, but “haricots écossés” is how they are all labeled here at my market in paris…

steve – isn’t that what i said…?

By: cedichou

cedichou — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 15:44:00 +0000

it should be: haricots Écossés, which does not mean cranberry beans, but just beans without the pod (cosse in French is the shell around the bean pea). There could be a bean variety called haricots Écossais, if there is a specific name for cranberry bean which sounds like what you wrote in the title.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 14:54:00 +0000

One very slight correction- October beans and French Horticulture are the same bean.
Steve Sando