Large, abundant, green-fruited pigeon peas adapted to growing in northern latitudes. 

We first found this particular pigeon pea (gandules) variety for sale as plants at the Fine Fare Supermarket. We grew a few plants and to our pleasant surprise, they produced beautifully and abundantly here in Philadelphia, and are distinct from our other Northern Adapted Pigeon Pea (Gandules) variety that we've been carrying in the catalog for many years. To learn the story behind this variety, we called the wholesaler’s phone number that was on the supermarket plant cart, which came from the Philadelphia Produce Market. They told us they get all their plants from Levari Farm Market in New Jersey. Here’s what Jim Levari told us:

The seeds were brought north by Puerto Rican farm workers and shared with Jim, who hired them on his South Jersey vegetable farm in his mid-20s. He’s 70 now, and grows them for his nursery, alongside other Puerto Rican specialties like Aji Dulce, Recao (Culantro), Rue, and lots of other veggies and flowers. He’s kept them because of their unique short season! H

Thanks to Jim for keeping these seeds all these years, to the Puerto Rican farmers who brought them north, and to all that came before them who shaped and nurtured this variety.