They're back! Dried Yigandes. Soaked. Boiled. Baked. One of the most intensive cooking processes.

Purchased at over $5/lb, more expensive than some of our local, pasture-raised meats and poultry. Yigandes, NOT Butterbeans. Not Broadbeans. And certainly NOT Lima beans. These beans have undergone more scrutiny and attempted labeling than any other food at the Gardens. Big, plump, meaty, never dry or mealy, each bean is a forkful of protein tender. Katerina Karter, a Greek cook par excellance herself, texted me, "what the hell did you do to the Yigandes! They are heaven!" Tim H, one of our longer staffers, has eaten them THREE times this week. None of us can get enough. Marcie is ecstatic about them. Why are the Yigandes better than ever before? A new crop, more expensive than ever before with the Euro at its all time heights, has the beans tender and soluble, taking less than an hour to boil and only two hours to bake. Scottie, our longest staffer says, "Anna, just buy some property and grow the bean!" Yeah.....we do have the beans, now....Marcie....you have garden plots, right? Sic Kolokithoanthes! At any rate, try this vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free, dish rich with onions and garlic with Melitzanosalata and a glass of Dimitra red. You will be happy living in a barrel thereafter! sic Aristotle.