Zolfino bean ✦

Haricot zolfino

What it is

It is sown in April on dry-stone terraces between roughly 250 and 600 metres, often under the olives so that rain runs straight off: its root system is so shallow that a day of standing water finishes the plant. The traditional pot is a straw-wrapped wine flask set among the embers, which happens to give exactly the slow, never-boiling heat the bean wants.

In the kitchen

Start it in cold unsalted water and raise the heat so slowly that the surface only trembles — three hours or more. A rolling boil bursts those very thin skins and the buttery density you paid for turns to soup.

Goes with

Olive oil Garlic Sage Cavolo nero Pancetta Black pepper Thyme

Same species

Ayocote bean Black bean Borlotti bean Cannellini bean Coco de Paimpol Faba asturiana

In season alongside

Ratte potato Artichoke Bintje potato Bronze bolete Camus de Bretagne artichoke Charcoal burner

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