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Heirloom Succotash—A "New" Twist on a Holiday Staple
Plants & Gardens News Volume 18, Number 3 | Fall/Winter 2003
by Scott D. Appell
My mother was a housewife of the "convenience-food" generation. Everything she cooked for the family came from a can, pouch, or box. Even the fixings for our Thanksgiving meal were factory processed. I never enjoyed fresh homemade succotash, for instance, until I was in my 20s and had a home of my own! Instead, like millions of other American kids, I choked down that loathsome gelatinous frozen-vegetable mix. I knew exactly what Sylvester the cat meant when he cried "Sufferin' succotash!" after yet another failed attempt at capturing Tweety Bird.
But I'm not crying in my corn and bean soup anymore. (I love you, Mom!) Nowadays, when the holidays roll around, I make up for my misspent youth by creating as authentic a Thanksgiving culinary experience as possible, using heirloom vegetables harvested straight from the garden. For state-of-the-art succotash, I combine corn and lima bean varieties dating back well over a hundred years.
Succotash was a Native American staple. Its name is derived from the Narragansett word msickquatash, or "boiled corn kernels." In addition to corn and lima beans, meat was often added as well. Indeed, the oldest recorded recipes for succotash include additions of corned beef, salted pork, wild fowl, venison, or even bear.
When the Pilgrims ate succotash during the first Thanksgiving repast in 1621 (presuming they did so; we only have historical evidence of the meats eaten that day), it's unlikely to have contained lima beans. (So much for my attempt at authenticity!) This is because the lima bean, Phaseolus lunatus (syn. P. limensis), is a warm-climate plant needing 65 to 80 days of hot weather to excel. The colonists—in temperate Plymouth, Massachusetts—probably enjoyed a hardy variety of the common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris.
Succotash tradition, however, gives the benefit of the doubt to lima beans. Native from Guatemala to Peru, the lima bean is a perennial that comes in two forms: large seeded (also called butter bean) and small seeded (also called sieva bean). Both forms have been cultivated in the New World for thousands of years. Spanish explorers first encountered the bean in Lima, Peru, hence the common name.
Both climbing and bush varieties of the lima bean are available. My favorite heirloom selections include the fast-growing climber 'King of the Garden', which was introduced in 1883 and yields enormous quantities of large white beans (the old lima varieties tend to have white seeds, in contrast to the greener seeds of modern varieties). They also include 'Henderson's Bush', a very hardy 1888 dwarf-bush introduction with small, flavorful, tender white beans.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (2278 Baker Creek Road, Mansfield, MO 65704; 417-924-8917; www.rareseeds.com) has a great selection of old-fashioned lima beans, most of which produce well even in USDA Zone 6.
Moving on to the other main succotash component—corn (Zea mays)—it's hard to say anything about this quintessentially American veggie without sounding redundant. But I'll try. An agriculturally important grass from Mexico, corn (or maize) is no longer found in the wild. There are conflicting theories about its evolutionary origins. A popular one states that corn was born about 3500 B.C. from a cross between two wild grasses: teosinte (Zea mexicana) and a member of the closely related Tripsacum genus.
Corn didn't become a staple crop in the U.S. until after A.D. 800. The Zuni tribe in what is today New Mexico and Arizona developed corn in six different hues: red, white, yellow, blue, speckled, and black. These cultivars were known as the six corn maidens and were said to be able to turn grass into corn by dancing.
Corn is much more adaptable to cooler, northern climates than the lima bean, and many wonderful varieties are available. For my heirloom succotash, I grow 'Bloody Butcher', a cultivar from before 1845 that produces beautiful deep blood-red kernels, which are also perfect for masa harina, or cornmeal. Another of my favorites is the archival selection 'Hopi Blue', named for the southwestern tribe that first developed the corn for baking. The kernels are dark blue and make a superlative corn bread and tortilla.
Check out J.L. Hudson, Seedsman (Star Route 2, Box 337, La Honda, CA 94020; www.jlhudsonseeds.net) for these and other great corn varieties. Then turn them into heirloom succotash. It's a tasty way to get in touch with the varied history of our continent, and a great way to add color to the dinner table during the holidays.
Scott D. Appell is a regular contributor to BBG publications. He lives and gardens on St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.