The Ten Bean is a Traditional Agricultural Product (PAT) on the national list approved by the Ministry of Agriculture And Forestry, whose requirements are regulated by the production discipline of the Tuscany Region.

Features

The Ten-Year Bean is an indeterminategrowth bean (climbing) and scalar maturation.
The pod is dirty white with reddish streaks, rather elongated (6-7 seeds inside) and about 1 cm in diameter.
The seed, of medium small size, has an oval shape and has a very light color at the collection (almost white) and then acquire a color from light brown to beige with grainy red streaks.
The seed is floury and consistent, it has a very thin epicarpum that makes it particularly delicate.

Cultivation

The bean was sown with corn and used the crop operations (processing and fertilization) carried out for that crop.
The sowing took place in June, irrigations were carried out only by rescue and the harvest carried out manually. L

production, which is very high, is dependent on seasonal trends and on average around 60-70 q.li/ha.

The ten-year bean was produced in the flat areas of the Middle Serchio Valley in medium-dough soils, fertile where cereals (wheat and barley) and corn were produced; After the early harvesting of the autumn-vernino cereal (early June) the maize with which the bean was associated was made.

In the kitchen it has always been used in the preparation of past soups (e.g. spelt soup and pasta and beans) and in typical “bird” preparations.
Being a bean at the same time delicate (absence of “peel”) and tasty it lent itself successfully to be used in different preparations.

Very few fans remain to grow this bean and it is not possible to estimate the amount produced.