You gotta love spilling the beans once in a while! The distinctive creamy coloured pods, flecked with crimson-red streaks, are a variety of cranberry bean, bred in Italy. You can eat them Piacenza style, in a famous Pisarei Faso, served as a side to small dumplings of flour and breadcrumbs, or with rice, in a salad, or as a dip. Whatever you choose to do with them, these little gems will leave you fit, healthy and full of beans. Australian borlotti beans have a sweet, earthy flavour and a smooth texture. Perfect for heart-warming soups, stews and purees, they are a great source of soluble fibre, great for lowering cholesterol and are an excellent source of protein. If you want to know where tasty meets healthy, whip up a classic minestrone, or pasta e fagioli, close your eyes and be transported into the balmy gardens of delight, somewhere where the livin' is sweet.