Allotments 4 All

We were given some bean seeds but aren't sure of the variety, they look like a runner bean and are green with a purple fleck in them and the seeds in the bean aren't very plump...any help would be much appreciated so we pick them at the right time and cook correctly.

Thanks

? borlotti, could it be a drying bean, they wouldnt have plumped up yet  :)

brilliant thanks for this have just searched and found the variety 'Borlotti Bean 'Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco 2' which look exactly the same.....looks like i now need some borlotto bean recipies  :D

fabulous bean, lovely added to stews and soups when they're mature, really creamy texture  :)

they are fab, we grow them every year, and I love eating them fresh, but usually have to wait till the end of august for them to fatten up properly. The beans are beautiful colours. Oh and they freeze brilliantly  ;D

I've grown Borlotti for the first time - got the plants at a summer fair and thought I could squeeze them in! If drying them do you leave them on the plant please?

Unless it gets really wet they are best left on the plant as long as possible to dry...  :)

Bridgewater, Bird Egg adn Polish CLimber all look like this, only way to tell apart is average bean size, crop weight and timing... the later ones (Borlotti for instance) crop heavier with bigger beans than the early ones (polish CLimber), but no chance of a single bean to work it out, it might be a big POlish CLimber or a small BOrlotti....

chrisc