Taum Dais

Lablab purpureus - Hyacinth Bean - Hmong "Curly Bean". Pods are 4" long and quite wide. Vining growth habit, requires 5' - 6' poles or trellises on which to grow. Seeds are mostly black, some with slight to significant orange brown or pinkish-brown mottling, with a white hilum (eye). Hyacinth fruit and beans can be toxic, depending on the variety and how they are prepared. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked like spinach. The flowers can be eaten raw or steamed. The root can be boiled or baked and eaten. If in doubt, treat this variety as an ornamental. Seeds for this Hmong variety were brought to the USA by my sister-in-law Mai Lee Vang's family when they escaped from Laos in the 1970s during the communist takeover. I got a good stock of these from Mai Lee quite a while ago; they've been stored in my deep freezer, and I'm just getting to listing them now, although I haven't grown them out yet. After being brought from Laos, these were grown for 20+ years in California's Sacramento Valley, Zone 9B so they are pretty well adapted to growing in hot, low elevation conditions. There, they are planted in April.