Cooking Cherokee or other types of Native American beans.

[buffaloberry]

 Good morning folks! I recently harvested pods of Ohio pole bean for my stir fry and they tasted fresh and earthy when being mixed in my stir fry. They were very good. My stir fry was vegan of all sorts as I continue to cut down on meat for a better diet. I wanna find how I can cook my Cherokee or other Native American beans better in other recipes other than in stir fry. You all had some Trail Of Tear beans before in any recipes? I'm looking to make all my recipes all vegan and nutritional without any oil or salt to make them all healthier. If anybody has any ideas, then please let me know in the boxes below. Have a good day. 

[amyinowasso]

I grew Cherokee Trail of Tears a couple of years ago and was trying to eat them as "green" beans. That's a nope. I didn't have enough to eat, I saved what seed I got. They're a small black bean when dried and should be able to be cooked like other dried beans. I will follow this thread to see if you get more traditional recipes.

[macmex]

I believe there are at least two strains of Cherokee Trail of Tears. A good many folk have reported that theirs didn't work well as snaps. Yet the strain I have is about as tender as a Kentucky Wonder, which is pretty good. I can't remember where I heard it, but I vaguely recall someone saying that the Abundant Life Seed Company (now defunct) had a tender strain. Native beans I encountered in Mexico were often a mix of tender and not tender pods. I suspect the original Cherokee Trail of Tears was such a mix. Abundant Life just selected plants which had the more tender pods for saving seeds. 

Blake, if yours are tender enough to eat like green beans, you can use them in any way that green beans are used. Otherwise you can't go wrong drying the seed and cooking them like a black bean. I have friends who love this bean as a dry bean. I haven't heard of any strain of Cherokee Trail of Tears which isn't good as a dry bean.