Poljak beans

“It is not only that grannies remember, but their grandchildren “know a little something” about the hard-to-cook grass pea” meaning that the elderly know, and perhaps some of their grandchildren know as well, how difficult it is to cook grass pea.

Poljak beans is one of those crops which successfully grow not only due to care of hardworking farmer’s hands but also thanks to its resistance to adverse climate soil conditions. The beans are of irregular shape about 1 cm in size. The colour resembles the colourful sea sand and it can be found in a variety of shades. Poljak beans used to be a regular crop in the region of Trebinje which fed generations of the local population. It is a typical winter crop, sometimes called the “meat of the poor”.

Traditional, folk medicine considers it a particularly healthy type of beans, much more beneficial than other types of known legumes. It affects the level of cholesterol and blood sugar and nowadays, it is being rediscovered as a gourmet delicacy. In Trebinje, it is served with a promise of health. After nearly half a century of neglect, thanks to the persistent efforts of the Slow Food Convivium Trebinje, that have been invested in its rediscovery since 2005, Poljak beans made its return to the fields and dining tables in the region of Trebinje as one of the most important examples of the regional biodiversity.

However, if you remember to soak it in cold water a night before, and the next day you have at least one hour (or a pressure cooker and thirty minutes), the result that you will get is a thick soup made of grass pea whose hardness you will no longer remember because it will be suppressed by the living memory of its taste and smell.

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus, L.) (“poljski grah”, genitive of the word “polje”, “campo”, “field”), falls into the category of historically significant crops in the area of Trebinje, where, owing to its ability to grow under adverse climatic and soil conditions, its long-term storage capability and, above all, its abundant nutrients (primarily proteins), it has been one of the essential food items for centuries, and consequently, was awarded the honorary title “Meat of the Poor”.

Nowadays, after nearly half a century of neglect, owing to the persistent efforts invested in its rediscovering, which started in 2005, grass pea has returned to the fields and dining tables in the area of Trebinje, proving itself as one of the most important representatives of the biodiversity in the region.