Eye of the Tiger

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Eye of the Tiger
Uses dry or shell
Growth Habit bush/half runner
Maturity early to midseason
Flower Color white
Pod Color green
Seed Color yellow-orange and dark red
Seed Pattern striped


Name and History

From Argentina and/or Chile. Currently fairly easy to find commercially in the US. Also known as:

-Ojo de Tigre and variations on the English translation thereof, i.e. Tiger Eye, Tiger's Eye, Tiger Eyes, Tigers' Eyes.
-the original name Pepa de Zapallo, which translates to "Pumpkin Seed" (or more exactly "Pip of the Pumpkin").

Apart from the obvious name associations with stripey orange critters and veggies, "ojo" is another name for "striped" in the bean pattern-describing world.


USDA Accession: 'Pepa de Zapallo' (PI 282054)

Uses

Dry or shell. Dry beans are thin-skinned and tend to fall apart when cooked. The shellies are quite large.

The dry beans have particularly bright, clear colors and are nice to look at.

Description

Growth: 80-100 days to dry bean harvest; 85 on average. Most describe it as a half-runner, with plants that are mostly bushy but produce a few climbing stems to 3 feet (1 meter) or less.

Flowers: White.

Pods: Green ripening to yellow. Easy to shell.

Seeds: White with red stripes in the shelly stage, drying to a beautiful bright golden orange with dark red curved stripes. Occasional beans have the colors reversed and are dark red with orange flecks. The shape is elongated and slightly flattened with a bit of a kidney bean-like bend.

Gallery