The "White seeded Cherokee Trail of Tears"

11 years ago

last modified: 11 years ago

I was gifted a few seeds of this White Seeded Cherokee Trail Of Tears from a member of the Gardeners Chat-Shed in the U.K. so I'm growing them for seed this year, haven't tasted them yet but maybe I can still sneak a couple, the blk. seeded CTofT is a favorite of ours. The information given to my source about them and then sent onto me....

" "Mr. Yeomans's White Seeded Cherokee Trail of Tears"
John Yeoman (author of books such as 'Self Reliance: A Recipe for the New Millennium' and 'Gardening Secrets That Time Forgot") had a seed conservancy called "Village Guild' which unfortunately doesn't exist anymore. The rare seeds he safe guarded and shared amongst Guild members, are however now in the HSL collection and offered in the HSL catalogue. One of the beans in John's garden was the heavy bearing 'Cherokee Trail of Tears' bean. About 15 years ago, one of the pods on one of his plants produced white seeds. Growing these seeds on proved that a mutation had taken place, not a cross. The beans are identical to the normal Trail of Tears, except for the colour: cream white flowers, white seeds and the green pods take longer to develop the deep purple hue when they are mature.
This strain produces only white seeds every year and all generations of this strain grown since I had the seeds have been stable. Same superb flavour, strong string and pod shape as the ordinary Trail of Tears beans. The beans can be used for pods or for shelling and drying. Pods develop later in summer when early beans are past their first flush. I love harvesting them when they are very young and small (no strings then) and serve them cooked whole with a dab of butter."

I picked a couple of pods at the shelly stage, curiosity got the better of me, the pods at this stage are a cream color flushed with pink.

I couldn't find any information on this bean other than above so thought I would start a thread on them in case they might be of interest :).

Annette

Featured Answer

Macmex

9 years ago

Annettte, such threads are so very useful for those who seek info on varieties. Thanks! I just grew the black seeded variety last year. I can report that it handled our Oklahoma heat very well and set a prodigious amount of pods and seed.

George

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Comments (11)

Libby
9 years ago
Thanks for posting this Annette. I'm the daughter of John Yeoman and came across this post last year after he passed away, when I was trying to find anything about the white beans that he was so proud of. This is the only information that is written down, so thank you! I have just starting germinating the seeds this year to see how they do... I am in no way green fingered so here's hoping. How did you get on with them?
aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
Original Author
9 years ago
Libby, I grew them again last year, this time we ate them :). Strong grower, produced enough beans for a quite a few meals, and a fair amount of seed which I have already shared with others. I only had one pole, 8 plants. Like the black seeded CTofT's a favorite with us and will be growing them again this year.

Annette
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HU-789621253
2 years ago
I bought some of the black Cherokee Trail of Tears seeds online from a reputable heirloom seed company a couple years ago. I grew them last year, but randomly some of the beans were white, so I saved those separately in the fall as dry beans or seeds. I grew some of the white ones this year and the new pods contain all white seeds! Is this the same ?
Macmex
2 years ago
Could well be. I'm guessing the white is recessive and hiding in the larger gene pool. If the rest of the plant and pods are the same as that which you get from the black seed, then I'm betting you have the same thing as the White Seeded Cherokee Trail of Tears.
HU-789621253
2 years ago
Thanks! It's exciting to learn that others know about these white beans that I produced by accident! I will definitely continue to grow them and keep the variation alive! I live in west central Wisconsin btw. Happy growing!
HU-153630927
last year
I just pick my Trail of Tears this year and there were 3 pods with all white beans. 16 lbs. total beans w/ 16 white beans. Wondered if anyone else had the experience and found you here..
HU-523875368
last year
This is all super interesting, thank you so much for sharing and starting this thread. I went looking for chat boards because this year I planted a bunch of black Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, but pods on one plant were white with back beans inside. Beans were also notably a little squarer. Does anyone know if this means anything? Definitely came in the same packet of seeds (from Real Seeds UK) and were the only variety of bean I grew this year.
Macmex
last year
It may take me a couple days but I'll post some photos for comparison.
Macmex
last year
last modified: last year
In a day or so I'll post some photos for comparison.
Macmex
last year
last modified: last year
Okay, here's a thread which should have some decent photos.

Cherokee Trail of Tears