Season's Eatings: Heirloom Beans

"Now the potatoes and carrots, the beets and turnips and cabbages were gathered and stored in the cellar, for freezing nights had come.

 

Onions were made into long ropes, braided together by their tops, and then were hung in the attic beside wreaths of red peppers strung on threads. The pumpkins and the squashes were piled in orange and yellow and green heaps in the attic’s corners. The barrels of salted fish were in the pantry, and yellow cheeses were stacked on the pantry shelves. . . .

The attic was a lovely place to play. The large, round colored pumpkins made beautiful chairs and tables. The red peppers and the onions dangled overhead. The hams and the venison hung in their paper wrappings, and all the bunches of dried herbs, the spicy herbs for cooking and the bitter herbs for medicine, gave the place a dusty-spicy smell.

 

Often the wind howled outside with a cold and lonesome sound. But in the attic Laura and Mary played house with the squashes and the pumpkins, and everything was snug and cosy.”

Now, no one’s expecting anyone to maintain this level of food storage today. However, during those last fall weeks at your local farmers’ market, a little advanced planning can make for tasty eating all winter long. Pick up potatoes and other root vegetables even if you’re not planning to use them right away—with proper storage in a root cellar or other cool, dark place, they can last many months. The same goes for winter squash—pick up several varieties at your local market in October, and you can enjoy their sweet flavor all winter long.  

Of course, drying produce—from tomatoes and peppers to mushrooms and fruits—can dramatically increase the shelf life of these less hardy items. Many farmers’ markets also include vendors who offer dried beans. Dried beans, of course, epitomize the need to plan ahead; requiring either soaking or a long cooking time (or both!), they are rarely the best choice for a thirty-minute meal mentality. Beans, however, are an ideal food for chilly winter weekend afternoons—a pot of bean soup simmering on the stove or a casserole of baked beans slowly cooking in the oven seems to warm the whole house and heighten anticipation for a tasty meal to come.  

Dried beans are not exactly exotic or obscure—heaven knows supermarket shelves include a standard array of Great Northern, navy, pinto, kidney, and other well-known varieties. Where the farmers’ market comes in, then, is by presenting lesser-known heirloom varieties, many of which offer colors, flavors, and textures that might broaden your appreciation for these pantry staples.  

As with heirloom tomatoes, one of the greatest pleasures of discovering heirloom bean varieties is enjoying their names, which are often as colorful as the beans themselves. Following is just a sampling of the many varieties you might encounter at your local market: 

Black Valentine: A black bean variety dating back to 1897, black valentine beans have a creamy texture that is well-suited to any classic black bean recipe, including soups, dips, and chilis.

Christmas Lima: Also known as the chestnut lima for its nutty flavor, this large bean (about the size of a quarter) has a mealy texture similar to baked potatoes. Its mottled burgundy markings fade only slightly during cooking, making it a colorful addition to vegetable curries, sautés, and stews.

Good Mother Stallard: These mottled maroon-and-white beans produce a meaty texture and an intensely flavorful bean broth that is best enjoyed simply flavored with onions and garlic.

Jacob’s Cattle: Also known as the trout or dalmatian bean, Jacob’s cattle is a relative of the common kidney bean. Small, with mottled white and dark red or purple markings, the beans are popular in New England, where they form the basis of classic Boston baked beans, soups, and chilis. 

Tiger’s Eye: A truly beautiful bean, pale orange with dark maroon swirls, the tiger’s eye bean has a tender skin and can be substituted for pintos in any recipe.

Yellow Indian Woman: A lesser-known heirloom variety that was originally brought to the United States by Swedish immigrants, this small yellowish-gold bean has a creamy texture and is a good substitute for black beans, especially in salads.  

If you are not fortunate enough to have a bean supplier at your local farmers’ market, heirloom beans are readily available for purchase online. Try any of the following retailers: 

The Bean Bag (www.beanbag.net): Located in the Sacramento Valley area, the Bean Bag’s more than fifty heirloom types include many hard-to-find varieties at reasonable prices. 

Purcell Mountain Farms (www.purcellmountainfarms.com): This Idaho-based farm offers more than 65 heirloom bean varieties, as well as lentils and peas.  

Rancho Gordo (www.ranchogordo.com): Based in Napa Valley, Rancho Gordo sells its beans at San Francisco-area farmers’ markets. Online, they offer more than two dozen varieties of heirloom beans sold either individually or in samplers such as the European sampler (cannellini, borlotti, flageolet, scarlet runner) and the Desert Island sampler (scarlet runner, yellow eye, Rio Zape, Good Mother Stallard, Vaquero). 

Seed Savers Exchange (www.seedsaversexchange.org): In addition to preserving heirloom garden seeds, this nonprofit organization based in Iowa also offers a wide variety of eating beans. Seed Savers offers six of its most popular heirloom varieties in a sampler pack.  

One of the pleasures of exploring heirloom beans (or any other heirloom produce) is feeling a sense of history, of connection to those who first developed and enjoyed these beans tens or hundreds of years ago. So, like the Ingalls, plan ahead—stock your pantry with several heirloom bean varieties and enjoy their color, flavor, and nutrition in countless bean dishes throughout the winter. 

Selection: Choose beans that are shiny and uniform in size, with intact skins. 

Storage: Dried beans can be stored in a dark, cool, dry place for at least six months, up to a year. Cooked dried beans can be stored in the refrigerator for two days or in the freezer for up to six months. 

Preparation: Always sort through dried beans, removing those that are faded or otherwise marred and also discarding any stones or other foreign matter.  

To soak or not to soak is a matter of some debate. The prevailing opinion these days is that soaking is not entirely necessary, but that many beans benefit from a gentle quick-soaking method: pour boiling water over beans to cover by two inches; soak for at least an hour or until the beans have doubled in size. Discard the soaking water before proceeding with cooking. If beans are not pre-soaked, they will require significantly longer cooking times, which risks breaking beans’ skins.  The conventional wisdom that soaking beans reduces their gas-producing properties is not entirely true—at most, pre-soaking reduces their potency by only 5 to 10 percent. The best remedy for bean-produced gas? Eating more beans, which will accustom the digestive system to their sugars and fiber.  

In general, the larger the bean, the longer the cooking time. Cook beans in a large pot in a ratio of three parts water to one part beans. Bring water to a boil; after ten minutes, reduce heat, cover, and simmer 1 to 2 hours (longer if not pre-soaked), or until quite tender. Add flavor to the water by adding ham hocks, onion, bay leaves, thyme, or other spices. Do not add salt until the beans have finished simmering, as this toughens the skin. Likewise, sour ingredients such as vinegar and tomatoes should not be added until the beans are tender, since these acidic additions also toughen beans’ skins. The exception, of course, is baked beans (see below), which need acidic ingredients to prevent them from turning to mush during their long cooking time.  

Recipe: Grandma K.’s Bean Casserole 

Serves 4 as a main dish; 6 as a side dish 

1 ½ c. dried beans
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, diced
¾ t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
¾ t. dried mustard
1 T. maple syrup
1 T. molasses
1 T. brown sugar
6 strips bacon (optional—omit for a vegetarian, low-fat version) 

Cook beans until almost tender (see above); pre-soak if desired. Combine all other ingredients except bacon in a 1 ½ qt. casserole dish. Add the beans with as much cooking water as will fit in the casserole dish. Bake at 325° for about 6 hours. Stir the beans occasionally during cooking, and add additional water as needed to prevent them from drying out. About 45 minutes prior to serving time, cut the bacon into pieces and brown quite well in a frying pan. Drain grease, and add browned bacon pieces to the top of the casserole. Return to oven for 30 more minutes.  

Some people enjoy these baked beans topped with tangy mustard. Great side dishes include cornbread and a simple green salad or sautéed greens such as spinach or Swiss chard.

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Norah Piehl, Food Correspondent:Norah’s column, “Season’s Eatings,” published twice monthly to Gather Essentials: Food, considers  the importance of eating seasonally and locally. The number of farmers’ markets in the United States has increased by more than 100 percent in just the last decade, making fresh, locally-grown produce more accessible and affordable than ever before. “Season’s Eatings” helps the growing number of farmers’ market shoppers make good choices at the market, highlighting in-season produce that might be unfamiliar to readers and offering information on its history, taste, selection, and use, often including a recipe or two. Norah’s column will also profile local growers and markets, discuss other items (from cheese to chutney) that might be found at your local market, and generally offer resources for those who wish to continue exploring their local and regional agricultural offerings.

Norah is a professional writer, editor, and book reviewer whose articles and reviews have appeared in Pregnancy magazine, Brain, Child, Skirt!, Literary Mama, Publishers Weekly, The Horn Book Guide, and BookPage. Her personal essays have been included in two anthologies and on American Public Media’s Weekend America. In her spare time, Norah enjoys knitting (and blogging about knitting) and playing handbells with Boston’s Back Bay Ringers.

You can find all of Norah’s columns at http://www.gather.com/seasons eatings.

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