Aunt Maude's beans are excellent for canning (and of course fresh from the garden) and are always popular at pitch-in dinners. They tend to be a "shelly" type of bean when left on the plant. Generally, my family tends to cook them with bacon or ham, with sliced onion and allowed to simmer for a long time. During the summer months, green beans & new potatoes also have a long tradition within the family.
Plant as you would any bush bean. The black seed beans are from a plant that tends to want to vine; try planting a sunflower and then planting the black beans about 6 inches or so from the sunflower. When the beans are fresh, all the beans have a white colour. The black colour does not appear until you let the beans go to seed. Aunt Maude's beans do very well in the clay soils of Southern Indiana and are known to be growing in Alabama, Arkansas, and California.
These beans have been passed down through my family from my Great Aunt Maude Etta (Sabastian) Kash. Aunt Maude was born December 7, 1901 in Wolfe county Kentucky near the town of Daysboro, KY. Aunt Maude lived to the age of 65 and passed away in 1966. Aunt Maude came to Southeastern Indiana shortly after being married sometime in the mid to late 1920's; she brought the beans with her at that time. Currently, I do not know what the previous history of these beans are.
It is the tradition within our family that when we pass on Aunt Maude's that we tell the story of how Aunt Maude would herself pass these beans on to family, friends, and acquaintances with a blessing that peace and goodwill would flow in their wake. These beans continue to be passed on in that spirit by :
Maude Etta (Sabastian) Kash Ova & Floria (Sabastian) Turner (Aunt Maude's sister) Garry & Janet (Turner) Meierle Donald & India Turner George Wm Turner
If you're interested in more of the family lore surrounding Aunt Maude's Beans information is available on the World Wide Web at :
http://www.astro.indiana.edu/~turner/AuntMaudesBeans