Bean Mereville di Piemonte (60-25)

My favorite bean is the Mereville di Piemonte, why? I have been growing this bush bean forever since I first bought from Seeds of Italy about 10 years ago. I prepare the garden in early-May with store bought manure and I wait for about a week before I plant the seeds an inch down from the soil and 5 inches apart. Every year I grow about 15 plants and I will have beans all summer to end of fall. I called this the “magic” bean because it keeps growing more and more after each harvest. Mid July will be my first harvest. I prefer to harvest the beans when it’s around 7 inches long. It’s meaty, still tender and it’s great to sauté, to roast or to stew. I like to sauté the beans with shallots and olive oil with a sprinkle of garlic salt. Or I like to roast them in the oven along with asparagus, eggplants, zucchini, red bell peppers, olive oil and whole garlic cloves. This combination makes a beautiful platter to take to potlucks. Beans in the stew are delicious as well. This is the most beautiful bean I've ever planted and I will continue to grow them as long as I live. I just love the combination colors of the yellow and the violet together. The colors really make the garden very colorful. The beans are yellow with violet streaks and each bean has its unique streaks of light and heavy violet contrast.

I started a late crop of these in Southern New Jersey in August this summer, after a very wet and very hot early summer. They grew quickly and now, at the end of the September, I am enjoying a wonderful harvest of long, "meaty" and tasty beans. Very flavorful when cooked to tender-crisp. I will definitely plant these again next year.

These beans do well in New England. The bushes grow vigorously and the pods are stringless. They produce a lot of beans high on the plant and are easy to pick. They turn solid yellow when cooked. A very attractive bean! I end them, slice on the diagonal, then steam or sautee-a wonderful labor saver and always popular on the table.