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Mystery bean: anybody recognise this?

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  • #1

    Mystery bean: anybody recognise this?

    I got a single large white bean, about the size of a butter bean but rounder, from a UK on line seed company which sells a lot of sub tropical and exotic stuff. They included it in my order as a freebie, entitled 'Magic bean: sow in warmth.' It had the firm's logo imprinted into the seed coat.

    Now that it's coming up I don't recognise it as the leaves are olive green and shiny, not like any normal French or runner bean I have grown. The appearance is more like a Ricinus or something, though it was clearly a bean seed and not a Ricinus.

    I'd like to know if I can eat what it eventually produces, that's all. So if you have an idea, I'd love to hear from you!


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  • #2
    If you goggle Magic bean you come up with laser etched beans with messages on. They seem to be Lima beans and are edible!

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    • #3
      Hi Bertie, long time no see!

      I have done some G*****ing. It could be Canavalia ensiformis or Jack Bean as the seed is white. Wikipedia has an entry for it. If it is it is edible
      Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

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      • #4
        Am4zon are selling them as Kidney Beans:

        Amazon.co.uk: magic beans seeds
        sigpic“Gorillas are very intelligent, but they don't have to be as delicate as chimps -- they can just smash open the termite nest,”
        --------------------------------------------------------------------
        Official Member Of The Nutters Club - Rwanda Branch.
        -------------------------------------------------------------------
        Sent from my ZX Spectrum with no predictive text..........
        -----------------------------------------------------------
        KOYS - King Of Yellow Stickers..............

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        • #5
          some beans can have toxins in though, so might need to be cooked before you can eat them.
          Forgive me for my pages of text.

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          • #6
            Thanks everyone. I think on balance it is the 'vining Lima bean' as 'VeggieChicken' says, as these are used to market the 'hidden message'. Apparently you can even dump your partner in this way now, with a bean that says 'You're dumped' when the seed leaves open! (according to the Daily Mail!)

            It was as well to check as I didn't know that Lima bean pods were poisonous and you can only eat the bean itself, and then as AkionTotocha says, you have to make sure they are well cooked. Otherwise I might have happily chomped away on the pods and come to a sticky end!

            It's an interesting plant, anyway, and I will grow it in the polytunnel this year and collect the beans.

            Thanks for all the advice.

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