The climate of Brittany on France’s Atlantic coast is not so dissimilar from our Pacific Northwest with its wet shoulder seasons and cool summers, so when we heard there was a regionally famous white bean, (with its own AOC protection of origin status) we thought it was worth seeking out. The autumnal harvests of Coco di Paimpol, from the seaside village of the same name, are celebrated from Brittany to Paris in both homes and on seasonal bistro menus. Almost exclusively sold as shelly beans (fully mature but not yet dried down), the season is extremely short, and the price is often high. Why all the fuss? These plump, round, creamy white beauties are one of the most melt-in-your-mouth beans you will have ever tasted. I’ve even read them described as “beany ganache”. Because they generally aren’t sold dry, they were one of the more difficult beans to track down, but in our first grow out, they proved fantastically prolific in what was a pretty mediocre season. Bushy in habit, the strong plants hang heavy with large lightly streaked pods. Like all white beans, they are more susceptible to rot in cool soils than more pigmented cultivars (perhaps even more so, being such a fleshy bean), so be patient and wait for warmer soil temps and drier stretches of weather at planting. The variety name, Cocaigne, was a place of medieval myth, an imaginary land of extreme luxury, comfort, and plenty that stood in stark contrast to harsh peasant reality. 90 days. UO
