I harvested some bean seed recently of both Idaho Refugee and Magpie from volunteer plants that had grown without human intervention and had survived frost with nil damage.
The plants were green, pest and blemish free and the seed turned out to be some of the best quality bean seed I had...
@journey11 , @hoodat really has a great point about them being a fall and winter crop. I have found they are more prone to disease such as chocolate spot during warmer weather and I also find aphids which attack them are often barely seen during the colder months compared to spring for example...
It does come down to personal taste and the cultivar in question. I prefer them young and tender but some folks prefer them a bit further along. How big were the pods?
Something does not sound right and all I can think is you might have harvested them too soon as I never recall them shrinking much. All I ever do is shell them, blanch them and eat them how I would if peas ever made it inside, I don't peel the seeds just the pods.
I consider white the dull common color for Phaseolus vulgaris as commercial breeding work is geared towards such and this then flows over into the home gardener/small farmer seed markets leading to a one size fits all approach, at least where I am. There are some stunning beans circulating...
Most seed sellers don't include much history or accurate history but not only did he introduce it but he named it as well. I'm glad @Bluejay77 shared this article with us.
Joseph Simcox donated some of the Robert Lobitz material to the seed bank here if I recall correctly.
I had never seen anything like Blooming Prairie or the sibling lines anywhere else.
I'll keep my fingers crossed that you manage to get seed return this season, hopefully some of those planted are the ones that might set seed for you.
I'm glad I am not the only one trying to adapt equatorial beans to other latitudes there are some great traits and nice seed coats amongst them.