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Old July 17, 2011   #1
strax
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Default Marvel of Venice

my first Marvel of Venice beans are turning yellow. I picked one and was surprised to see how large the beans are. Is mov supposed to be used as a snap bean or is it used another way?

thanks,

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Old July 28, 2011   #2
remy
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They are a large yellow Romano type snap. They get about 8-9 inches long and are quite wide. These are quite different for anyone who has only grown regular type green beans. They obviously need to be cut into shorter pieces than a regular green bean to make for easy eating, but are definitely worth the extra work. To me Romano types taste better. I like when the pods on Romano types get a little plump, but others prefer to pick when they pods are still flat.
Since Romano types have nice big plump seeds, they are often dual purpose and used as a cooking bean too.
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Old July 28, 2011   #3
carolyn137
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An amusing anecdote here.

Back in the early 90's a friend of my mothers gave me some bean seeds that he had gotten from an elderly Swedish man who had grown them forever and suggested they were swedish in origin anmd wanted eomeone tokeep them going after he died. A black bean with a white dot, long flat yellow pods, 3-4 inches, two tone lavender white blossoms, and the beans, as I described them in the 1993 SSE YEarbook had an icy crunchiness which I suggested was similar to the variety Dragon Tongue.

One of thje persons who requested seed grew them out and said they were identical in all ways to Maraviglia di Venezia, aka Marvel of Venice.

He was a bean expert, I was not. Cleverly I had named it Swedish Yellow Flat b/c it came to me not named. He also said that the Swedish one he got from me ripened faster and had better taste than Marvel of Venice.

So how does one put together the bean given to me that was said to be of Swedish origin and yet has an Italian name? Easy, it's called the Vikings.

They roamed all over the place burning, sacking, trading and that included the Mediterranean areas as well. From about 700 C.E. to when they tended to stay at home and drink more mead, which wasn't until about 1000 C.E.

So I do believe this variety did originate in Italy and Vikings took it back to the Norse countries, and that explains to me why Sweden was mentioned.


And yes,my mother's ancestors came from Sweden, the Carlsons, actually, thus my interest in the bean in the first place. And we have the ship passenger list of them arriving in Monteal from Sweden.

It was also the first bean I ever tried to save seeds from to list in the SSE YEarbook. How do you think I felt when I went to get those beans out of the glass jar where I'd stored them and all I saw was black lace with critters plastering the inside of the jar.

That's how I learned about bean weevils and that's how I learned to freeze all bean seeds in the freezer for three days which kills those weevils which reside just under the seed coat initially.

So I carefully sorted through those damaged beans and came up with only 7 beans that were not damaged. And from those 7 beans I built up my stock.

So that's how I know Marvel of Venice, aka, originally Maraviglia Venezia.

And used as a snap bean, not a dry bean, but I suppose one could also try using it as a dry bean. And nhow I'm picturing the inside of a hut in Sweden with mom making a bean soup. Why not? The beans they grew they probably stored as they did dried peas, etc., and often in a pit in the ice, so again, why not?
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Old July 28, 2011   #4
DeanRIowa
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Carolyn do you still grow "Swedish Yellow Flat"?

I noticed last time it was offered was in 09 by someone in Connecticut, it sounds like a good bean to grow. I love beans almost as much as tomatoes and cucumbers. I will have to keep my eyes out for it, hopefully offered next season.

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Old July 28, 2011   #5
DanishGardener
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Carolyn, the only bean the Vikings grew was the faba/broad bean, it was the only bean specie grown in Northern Europe before Columbus brought back Phaseolus beans from America.

And though the Vikings did reach the American continent almost 500 years before Columbus, there are no recordings of them bringing back any seeds.

My guess is that your Swedish beans very well could be identical to Maraviglia Venezia, maybe it was imported from Italy in the 1800's. I think it was around that time that seeds companies started selling more exotic varieties and species - even weird, and potentially deadly things like "love apples" (or kärleksäpple in Swedish)

Last edited by DanishGardener; July 29, 2011 at 07:38 AM.
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