Greek Gigantes

Greek Gigantes, AKA Greek Elephant Bean, Gigandes, Yigandes, Boerentenen is a somewhat rare runner bean from the cooler climate in the mountains of northern Greece.

We have grown the gigantes for a couple of years and find it being easy to grow, very vigorous, cold hardy and having a good yield. In the right conditions it will overwinter and produce even more beans the next year.

The Greek Gigantes is grown for its enormous white beans which have a mild somewhat nutty flavour with a pleasant meaty texture. The beans hold their shape well through cooking and they are of course rich in protein, essential minerals and fiber.

We typically dry our beans and store them until winter in jars. There are fantastic traditional greek recipes like Giganti Plaki (we love this dish) or marinated gigantes that you can find on the internet and the beans are fantastic in soups or stews in general.