Every year I try new types of beans, but the Smeraldo will always be one of my core group of vegetables I plant year after year. Great taste, great producer! Here to stay!

Well, maybe not hard to find anymore. Other companies do not offer the seed quality or quantity that is Franchi. I rely on this beauty every year...and am never disappointed. It is just the best green bean there is. No thank you to skinny french "haricot vert". I like them long, fat and delicious.

This is the highest level a green bean can be in every way. Excellent flavor, texture, true green bean aroma, shape. Easy to grow and produce a lot of beans for long time. This is on my "must have every year" list. I've tried some different varieties in years, none of them even close to this bean. If there was an option I would give 6 stars.

These beans are excellent for eating while growing, freezing for the winter and drying for the pot. An excellent bean.

They were large (some over 6 in. long), flat and delicious, the kind of bean my grandmother use to eat. I will be ordering these next year along with the others I ordered the previous year. Love them both.

These beans are the best I have ever tasted. I like them much better than the super marconi variety. They stay more tender, taste better, and have white seeds, rather than black. I just wish you could offer a choice of sizes. I am sure many people would love to order 1/4 pound, 1/2 pound, or even more at time. Could this be arranged? Love your company, by the way! This is Dan, We will see if we can get bulk quantities in. It is a great bean!

I have been growing these beans for years, and they are simply the sweetest, most productive beans I have ever grown. People beg me for bags of them. The plants grow quite tall and produce over a very long period. I don't bother growing bush beans anymore either because Smeraldo grow so quickly I typically can get quite an early crop for a pole bean. Unlike other beans that people often cook al dente, you must cook this bean fully to bring out its sweetness and proper texture. Provide ample and sturdy trellises for this bean and plant seeds a bit further apart given the large vigorous vine.

I can't believe the tender texture of these large beans and they are tender at great size too. They have a great beany taste too. This has been a terrible year in the garden with all the rain, but beans have done fairly well. I will grow these every year. I always plant some bush beans to produce first but these Smeraldos started producing at the same time as the bush beans. I'm so glad to have found them.

Relying on the 2012 reviews, I ordered in 2013. Perhaps I got a bad lot, but production has been poor. Taste is good, but not quite as good as the Dutch Northeaster (Kwintus) or Garden of Eden from Johnny's. Moreover, Northereaster is very early and productive, as is Garden of Eden.

I discovered this bean few years ago and can't live without it. While I'm cooking, I turn off fan and wait if the whole kitchen is full of aroma of that vegetable or not. Then, testing flavor and texture. Smeraldo is in the highest level that maybe 2 or 3 more flat beans in the world can be in that level, but never higher. This is how I cook : I saute 1 chopped oinion with olive oil, add cut Smeraldo, a little bit water, salt, half small tomato, low heat cooking. It is an incredible bean!!!

For many years I had to garden in partial shade. Even then, Franchi Smeraldo Pole Beans were my favorite. We recently moved and now I can raise vegetables in full sun. The Smeraldo variety produced a tremendous, long-lasting yield. The beans don't get tough when they get large. Their taste is outstanding and they freeze well. I'm a little anxious about my enthusiastic review. You may be sold out the next time I order. Hope NOT! Best regards, Ellen Greif