The pods can be up to 10 inches (25 cm) long, with 3 to 6 or more large, white or off-white beans per pod.
La Spagna Beans can be used as a green bean, a shelling bean or a drying bean.
When using them as a green bean, pick the pods when they are 5 to 6 inches (13 to 15 cm) long. The pods will be about ½ inch (1 cm) wide and appear flat.
For use as shelling beans, pick just as the pods start to turn from green to brown.
When harvested fully mature for use as beans for drying, the beans inside will be 1 to 1 ½ inches long (2.5 to 3.5 cm) long and the same width. They will look like very large lima beans or a gigante beans, though the taste and texture are different.
The dried beans have a meaty texture when cooked.
La Spagna Beans are grown a great deal in China, and exported to Italy, where Italian companies process them by packing them into bags or canning them, making them “Italian” produce.
In France, they are grown in the Soissons area.