I think I've seen beans with words carved on them! It's the kind of thing that grows out of the cotyledons with words on them! The red and white beans are the same as the white beans.

Sword Bean

Semen Canavaliae

(English) Sword Bean

Alias Large Knife Bean, Sword Bean, Sheath Bean.

Origin Seeds of Canavalia gladiata (Jacq.) DC.

Plant Forms Annual semi-erect twining herb, 60-100cm tall; ternate compound leaves alternate; leaflets broadly ovate or ovate-oblong elliptic, ca. 12cm long, ca. 8cm wide; racemes axillary; calyx labiate; corolla butterfly-shaped, light reddish-purple, flag petals orbicular, pterostaminal petals narrow and detached, keel petals incurved; stamens single or 1 stamen partially detached; ovary with sparse hirsute hairs. Pods strap-shaped and flat, slightly curved, up to 30cm long, with ridges on the margins. Seeds ellipsoid, red or brown, umbilicus about 3/4 of the total length of the seed. flowering period June to July, fruiting period August to October.

Cultivated in Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Sichuan and Shaanxi.

Harvesting The ripe pods are picked between September and November, dried in the sun, and stripped of their seeds.

Traits The seeds are flat-reniform or flat-ellipsoid, 2.5-3.5cm long, 1-2cm wide, and 0.5-2cm thick, with a reddish or reddish-purple surface, slightly glossy. There is a gray-black linear umbilicus on the edge, 1.5-2cm long and about 2mm wide, with white membranous bead stalk remnants on the umbilicus; near the umbilicus there is a concave dotted bead pore at one end, and a darker collegiate point at the other end, with a bulging seed ridge between the umbilicus and the collegiate point. Seed leathery, inner surface brownish green and shiny; cotyledons two, yellowish white, oily. Odorless, taste light chewing beans.