I just returned after 3 days and was overwhelmed with all the email messages. RE: Pinto Beans aka Soup Beans. Yes, Pintos are speckled and when they are cooked, they do have a brownish color. Green Beans: There are various varieties. My mother always preferred White Half-runners. They were also string beans. When the beans were what she considered "too full", she shelled the beans, throwing away the hulls, calling them Shelly Beans. I had an older brother who would have eaten soup beans for breakfast. Without soup beans (pintos) in the winter and green beans in the summer, feeding a large family would have been quite a task for my mother. But, while the whole family was enjoying those beans with fried potatoes, onions, and cornbread, I was fixing myself a scrambled egg sandwich. Never liked beans of any kind!