This summer Connie Triscari and her family shared a special part of her history with us, in addition to the horse manure that fed our garden so well. She gave us Romano bean seeds and they went into the ground right away.
I asked Connie what she knows about the seeds.

“The story I was told  was that when my grandfather came over from Italy in 1907, he brought some with him, tied in a handkerchief, in his pocket.  The beans were always grown in the small family garden and my seeds were given to me by my father when I decided to try gardening…”

Here how we grew and prepared these truly special beans:

Connie says she likes to use them in soups, vegetable dishes, and eat them cold, like a salad, with Italian dressing on them.
Here how I prepared our first harvest– with onions and bacon. Thank you Connie, we love them cooked and raw.

1) Romano beans, finely chopped

2) 1 onion, chopped and about 6 ounces of bacon

3) Sauté onions and and bacon for about 2 minutes then add beans. Cook them for another couple of minutes. We liked them firm.

4) We ate with brown basmati rice and our sliced tomatoes