At the greengrocer choose beans which are rigid, not floppy, and have no trace of brown.
The runner bean's red flowers are edible. Use them in salads.
Large bean pods with fat beans are too tough to eat: cook the inner beans and throw the pods away.
The younger the better: really small beans taste the best and don't need slicing.
Scarlet runner beans originate from Mexico where they are pollinated by hummingbirds.
The colour of a runner beans' flowers indicates the colour of the inner beans, so black and white flowers mean black and white beans, red flowers, red beans.
