This bean plant quickly produces its pods, which by October does turn yellow. It is the signal that they can be picked, left to dry and lastly shelled to have four or five small and medium sized seeds. This bean color has made it famous through the years ‘50s as the “Paglia white gold”: for farmers it was an authentic richness, considering that it might be traded in return for olive oil, that it was not produced in the Valley area.

During the Second post – war period the production of this Fagiolo Bianco of Orvieto was in danger of disappearing: just the good will of some farmers, who stored the seeds used in the past generations, did allow to save this legume and to make it one of the gastronomic treasures of this land, chosen as Slowfood Presidium.

In the kitchen
Differently from other varieties of vegetables, you do not have to leave the bean to soak before boiling it and to use for cooking. Its taste, very delicate, makes it suitable to eat it alone or as a side dish, but it can be used also to make some delights bean – based like “beans with fowl”, a typical dish of the center of Italy.