Borlotti Beans

karine.butchart

Hi, I have been growing borlotti beans for many years now and often use the seed from plants I've sown.  I have had several years where some plants give beans inside which are either blue, purple, or black/grey.  I have sown those beans and they continue to give plants with the same blue/purple colours.  I wonder if anyone else has had this experience and I wonder if it is some genetic variation that's occurred.  I'm not sure who to ask about this.

Dovefromabove

The plants take after both their parents … just as you have. 😊 

karine.butchart

Ah yes, I'm not surprised by the blue beans passing on their genetics to the next generation of beans, what I am surprised by is the blue/purple beans being present in the first place when the parent plants were regular maroon and cream borlotti beans.

Dovefromabove

But the beans you had to start with will carry the genes of their parents … one of which may have been blue/purple.

I had a black Labrador called Boss … both his parents were black … but his paternal grandfather was a chocolate lab … so a proportion of Boss’s offspring were chocolate. 

Another possibility is that the bees that pollinated your maroon/cream borlottis may have just visited some blue/purple ones in a nearby garden and pollinated your beans with pollen carrying the genes for blue/purple. 

karine.butchart

Yes it's certainly a mystery to get blue beans from mottled maroon and cream parents/grand parents/ great grand parents/ great great grandparents! I wonder if anyone else has had these genetic variations?  It could be recessive genes.  I'd love to ask the RHS but can't find a way to ask them this!

Dovefromabove

Are you a member of the RHS?  They answer queries etc from members via email. 

karine.butchart

Hello Dove from Above!  I'm not a member but have been thinking of joining them.... so yes! I'll do that and see if there are records of this happening to other people.  I was so surprised as I've grown the beans for decades and this only happened in the last 3 years.  Magic nature eh?  enjoy your gardening!

barry island

Hi Karine.butchart, sorry for butting in as I can't help with your question but I grow Borlotti beans and when dried use them in winter stews, could you tell me if there is any other ways to use these beans as we always have more beans than the number of stews that we have and would love to know of other recipes? I think that Monty once said on Gardeners World that these beans could be eaten like runner beans when young but weren't very nice when I tried them like that.

karine.butchart

Hi there, to be honest we only ever use them dried to keep for use in soups/stews.  I guess that once cooked they would make into something like hummus, adding garlic, lemon and tahini.    I don't think that they are suitable to eat young.  We tend to grow dwarf French beans for yummy fresh beans  (... and we found in the past that runner beans are often stringy so we don't grow them now).  Other suggestions for Borlotti beans cook and make into a salad dish with plenty of onion, tomato, peppers and garlic with French dressing perhaps?!  Anyway, enjoy them!  They are such wonderful beans!!

Dovefromabove

I’ve used them as green beans and found them very good, but you do need to pick and use them when the pods are flattish, before the seeds begin to plump up. 

Desi_in_London

@barry island - for what it's worth, I use the (cooked) mature beans ( not just borlotti , also cannellini etc , and usually mixed  with chickpeas ) to make a salad --- 'mine' generally has beans ( or chickpeas) / tomatoes /cucumber / chopped red onion / chopped bell pepper / pitta bread split and toasted in a frying pan till crisp if i can be bothered ( not often) / dressed with olive oil , sumac , lemon juice , red chilli / salt / pepper and occasionally a smidge of pomegranate molasses ( or balsamic vinegar and honey as a replacement). 

Better as a lunch than a dinner in the depths of winter if you feel the cold as much as I do.

I don't like them as green beans either ( but to be honest I'm not a huge fan of green or runner beans in general anyway )