Italy's noble bean grows in cream and claret flecked pods, it is a lovely tasting and strikingly beautiful bean. This dwarf variety, with mottled buff and red 15cm (6in) pods grows to just 50-60cm in height (20-24in).
They are a suitable crop where space is limited, such as in containers on balconies or patio, or as a border plant in small gardens. Perfect for the more compact vegetable patch, or for growing under cloches in exposed areas.
They are good eaten fresh from the pod or when cooked with aromatic herbs like rosemary, sage or basil, and work well when added to hot pots with tomato sauces or in a risotto. Having a nutty flavour they can be substituted for red or white beans in many recipes. U.S. recipes refer to them as Cranberry Beans.
Producing a high yield for its size, Borlotto Suprema is superb for both eating fresh, freezing or for drying. It is the French bean for gardeners with limited space and a love of bright colour and is really easy to find when carrying out a dusk raid on the vegetable patch!

If you want to cook them with style then it has to be Pasta E Fagioli, which literally translates into English as "paste and beans". This famous Italian dish is immortalised in Dean Martin's first million selling record "That's Amore" - the one where he sings "when love hits your eye like a big pizza pie". What a recommendation.

Chef and writer Antonio Carluccio writes in his Complete Italian Food (1997) .
"I always judge a chef by the way he or she prepares pasta e fagioli".

Where to grow:
Beans prefer to grow in moist, fertile soil in a sunny, sheltered spot away from strong winds. Prepare the soil for planting by digging over and adding plenty of organic material, this will help to improve the soil's moisture-retaining ability and fertility.
Beans can also be grown in pots. Choose pots at least 45cm (18in) in diameter and make sure there are plenty of drainage holes. Fill with a mixture of equal parts loam-based compost and loam-free compost.

Supporting plants:
If you wish to train the plant vertically, create a support before planting. Either make a wigwam with canes, lashed together with string at the top, or create a parallel row of canes, which have their tops tightly secured to a horizontal cane.
Add to the ornamental appeal of wigwams by planting a few fragrant sweetpeas alongside them. These will twine together as they climb, attracting pollinating insects to the beans, and providing flowers to pick at the same time as the crop

Sowing: Sow indoors late April and May, outdoors in late May to June.
Even when temperatures are not below freezing, cold air can damage bean plants, so don't plant too early. Plant outdoors only after the last frosts, May onwards. Sowing seeds early indoors gives a faster and more reliable germination rate. Beans sown directly outside often germinate poorly or get attacked by slugs.
Avoid problems by sowing seeds in late April and May in pots or root trainers in the greenhouse. Robust young plants will be ready to plant outside within about 5 weeks, growing away far quicker than outdoor sowings.
Sow a single bean seed, 4cm (1.5in) deep, in root trainers or into a 7.5cm (3in) pot filled with multipurpose compost. Water well, label and place on a sunny windowsill to germinate. Seedlings will be ready to plant out after about three weeks. Before planting, put in a cold frame to acclimatise.
Alternatively, beans can be sown directly in the soil between the second half of May and the middle of June. Plant two seeds next to your support about 5cm (2in) deep. Water well. After germination remove the smaller and less robust of the two young plants. As they grow, ensure the plants continue to twine around their canes.

Aftercare:
Having shallow roots regular and plentiful watering is vital. Beans should be watered particularly heavily, twice a week in dry weather, both when the flower buds appear and once they're open. Mulch when conditions are dry.
Don’t hoe around bean plants too deeply or you may damage the roots.
Beans capture nitrogen from the air, so make sure the soil contains the other essential ingredients, phosphorus and potassium. So for the fertilizer use something like 10-20-10. They leave the soil nitrogen-enriched even after harvest

Harvesting:
Ready to pick in around 52 days. The more you pick, the more they produce. Most should bear pods from late July and cropping of all types can continue until the first frosts, or longer if plants are protected. When boiled, don’t be too disappointed if the pods lose some of that beautiful purple colour, as they tend to turn to a deep green.
The French bean is a must for anyone growing their own vegetables. For a start it’s very easy to grow, and secondly its packed with goodness, particularly protein and vitamins A and C. This goes some way to explaining their enduring popularity: broad beans have been a food crop that has been grown for over 8000 years.