Bert Deane's Baking Bean

Dry bean. Bush habit. White, kidney-shaped seeds. Delicately skinned. Mild flavor, light, fluffy texture. Short cooking time. 4-5 seeds per pod. Pods 5-6" long when fully expanded. Plants 1-1.5' tall. White flowers. Average productivity. Mid-season maturing. 80 days to dry beans. Donated to SSE in 1981 by bean collector John Withee of Lynnfield, Massachusetts and the Wanigan Associates. Withee received the variety in 1977 from Stephen Deane of Wayne, Maine. It was originally developed by Stephen's uncle, Phillips Herbert ("Bert") Deane of Leeds, ME, by crossing a soldier bean, a white kidney bean and a yellow eye bean. It's unclear exactly when Bert made this cross, but he stabilized it over a period of years and then grew the variety until his death in 1953 at the age of 87. When Bert died, he left Stephen two, five-gallon milk cans of seed. Unfortunately, Stephen experienced many growing challenges such as flood, deer, cows, woodchucks, well-intentioned neighbors who picked them too early, etc. He decided to share seeds with John Withee to help preserve this family heirloom variety. SSE Accession # 101203