Pellegrini Bean

(Phaseolus vulgaris); Heirloom; Pole bean; Dual purpose: snap or dry; Minimum 20 seeds

Grown in Italy, the bean is known as Monachine (mona-KEEN-ay) or "Little Nuns". Here, it is known as Pellegrini, in honor of Seattle's culinary icon Angelo Pellegrini who grew and enjoyed this bean for decades before his death in 1991. In the 1950's vintner Robert Mondavi shared some of his family's beans from the old country with his friend Angelo, for whom it was love at first bite. Angelo then dedicated his gardens to growing the beans he'd relish one by one, smashing each with a fork before daubing it in a splash of olive oil to savor individually. Not just a dry bean, Pellegrini is fabulous as a stringless snap bean as well. Highly productive in our Michigan gardens, the vines climb to 5 feet.

In 2013, the Seattle Times published this article explaining how the Pellegrini bean truly exemplifies the meaning of heirloom.