Borlotti Beans

From the kidney bean family, borlotti are plump, creamy and substantial – pinkish-brown in colour, with red streaks. The only downside is they lose these pretty speckled markings when cooked.

When I occasionally encountered borlotti beans in London farmers’ markets before we grew them, I was outraged by their price but bowled over by their favour. Begrudgingly I accepted that foodies can be right and became determined to grow them myself.

Believing our climate borderline appropriate for the crop at best. I tried twice on our farm in France, only to be defeated by birds and bean seed fly. However some of our co-op farms in Devon have been more successful and we–re able to send them out in the boxes from time to time – the yield is just not big enough to send them out every week.