The cannellini (Phaseolus vulgaris) is a large, elongated white kidney bean, the most prized of Italy's white beans and the heart of Tuscan cooking. Creamy and mild with a thin, tender skin and a fluffy interior, it holds its shape gently in long simmering, which makes it the bean of ribollita and pasta e fagioli, of olive-oil-and-sage stews, and of the smooth white-bean dips and purées spread on toasted bread. Where the smaller cannellino di Atina or the toscanello end and the broader white kidney begins is a matter of local seed-saving, but the type is always recognisable: a plump, kidney-shaped, ivory-white seed with a clean, faintly sweet, almost chestnut-like flavour.