Its 6 inch (15 cm) long pods are stringless, smooth and fuzz-free.
Instead, the dark blackish-green beans are shaped like kidney beans, with glossy skin.
Black Valentine Beans have a rich flavour and a meaty texture.
Black Valentine Beans are 50 to 80 days from seed, depending on where you are, and the plant is pick and come again.
Cooking Tips
Black Valentine Beans can be used fresh as green beans, or dried.
After cooking, the dried beans turn a purplish colour.
Black Valentine Beans are good in soups and salads.
Simmer unsoaked ones for 1 ½ hours. Pressure cook soaked beans for 20 to 25 minutes.
Substitutes
Black Beans, Red Kidney Beans
Equivalents
1 part uncooked = 2 ½ parts cooked
History Notes
Black Valentine Beans were being grown in America by the 1850s, and in Upper Canada by the 1860s.
Language Notes
Sometimes called “Henderson’s Black Valentine” after the seed company, Peter Henderson & Co., that introduced it commercially in 1897.