Cranberry beans are our most colorful legume. They are shaped like green string beans, but the pod is cream-colored and speckled with pink markings, as is the inner bean. The pretty outer pod is never used. In the United States, primarily in the South and in Italian neighborhoods, cranberry beans are used as a fresh shell bean. In Latin America they are used primarily as a dry bean. When selecting cranberry beans, pick out the most colorful pods. Very often they will be offered with not too attrractive, dried-out pods. Open one up-if the inner bean is colorful and fresh-looking, they are worth buying. The off-color cranberry beans should be offered at reduced prices.