Roman Bean

About

A significant source of folate, potassium and fiber with little fat content Roman Beans are a small, nutty, kidney shaped bean often included in soups and stews.
Roman beans are popular in Italy (where they're bred), Turkey and Portugal.
Members of this bean family are sought out in their specific region of cultivation; these varieties include lamon, stregoni, scritti, and saluggia.

Information

Other names: Speckled Sugar, Romano, Borlotti

Translations: Ρωμαϊκή Bean, Romos Bean, الروماني بقول, ローマビーン, 로마 콩, רומן בין, Римская Бин, Romeinse Bean, Bean Romawi, रोमन बीन, Romà Bean, Римська Бін, 罗马豆, Роман Бин, Romano Bean, Роман Бийн

Physical Description

Roman beans are small pink beans, kidney shaped, with red markings on the skin. The pods are distinctive and attractive with deep pink-red mottled over green skin.

Colors: deep red markings on pink skin

Tasting Notes

Flavors: meaty, mildly earthy, nutty

Mouthfeel: Meaty, Bean-like.

Substitutes: Cranberry beans

Selecting and Buying

Seasonality: july, august, september, opctober, november

Peak: july, august, september, opctober

Choosing: Choose dried beans that are whole and plump looking with unblemished skin. Choose fresh pods with firm flesh, and skin that is taut and free of blemishes or bruises.

Buying: Roman beans are popular in Italy, Turkey, and Portugal. In the U.S., look for them in farmers' market stalls, higher end chain-stores and larger supermarkets, or specialty stores, in their fresh state.

Procuring: Roman beans are harvested twelve weeks after sowing.
Grow them up a wigwam of eight bamboo canes to conserve space in your garden. Plant the beans firmly at the base of your wigwams, with 6-12 inches in between. Roman beans aren't big producers, in order to boost your crop yield water with tomato fertilizer every 3-4 weeks.
Harvest between late summer to mid fall.

Preparation and Use

Larger Roman beans are indispensable in minestrone, and a multitude of other Italian dishes such as stews.

Cleaning: Roman beans, when dried are cleaned in the same way as other dried beans. Pick through the dried beans and remove any stones you may find. Then in a large bowl, cover the amount of beans you're going to use in two to three inches of cold water, let sit for five to ten minutes. Remove floaters, drain, then rinse under cold running water for a couple of minutes.

Conserving and Storing

Dried beans keep for a year or more in air tight containers in a cool, dark place. Canned beans keep longer, so long as the cans are undamaged and whole.
Fresh beans should be used within a week of being purchased.