{"id":22109,"date":"2012-04-10T11:00:18","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybg.org\/plant-talk\/?p=22109"},"modified":"2012-04-10T15:18:18","modified_gmt":"2012-04-10T19:18:18","slug":"beano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/2012\/04\/tip-of-the-week\/beano\/","title":{"rendered":"Beano"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonia Uyterhoeven<\/a> is the NYBG<\/a>‘s Gardener for Public Education.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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'Yellow Eye' beans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you haven\u2019t already gone out to buy your seeds for your vegetable garden, now is the time to do it. I have been reading Steve Sando\u2019s<\/a> \u2018The Rancho Gordo Heirloom Bean Guide<\/a>\u2019 and would like to talk today about an overlooked topic: heirloom beans.<\/p>\n

Some of you may sigh and think, “Oh, beans! Why doesn\u2019t she talk about heirloom tomatoes or peppers?” But beans are one of the easiest things to grow in the vegetable garden; as legumes they are nitrogen fixers, so they don\u2019t deplete the soil of nutrients, and they come in a delicious variety of mouthwatering flavors when you grow them from seed (I’m not kidding). Some are nutty, some are buttery, some are starchy, some are creamy and some are meaty.
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\nFor all you vegetarians and cuisine-conscientious souls out there, beans are also incredibly healthy. They are are full of protein and fiber. They are high in calcium but low in cholesterol, saturated fats and sodium. Beans help regulate blood pressure and blood sugar and are recommended for people with diabetes and hypertension. If this isn\u2019t enough, they are also high in anti-oxidants and vitamin B.<\/p>\n

From time to time I go to a trendy Vegan restaurant in New York City. It\u2019s not my usual fare, but it’s fun to see how the other half lives. I usually get The Good Food Plate, which is a smorgasbord of different side dishes including tofu, braised greens, sweet potato and beans. The variety of beans that you find in restaurants and supermarkets typically consists of popular varieties such as black beans, kidney, pinto and garbanzo beans.<\/p>\n

As you enter the world of heirloom beans, you will discover that the options are endless. Many heirloom beans, because they are freshly harvested, don\u2019t need the extensive soaking time that store-bought, dried beans require. Sometimes you can even skip the soaking process entirely.<\/p>\n

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'Black Calypso'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The bean family contains a number of genera. Popular heirloom beans in North America come from the genus Phaseolus<\/em>. This genus includes several species. The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris<\/em>) is easy to grow. If you live in a hot, dry climate, look for tepary beans (Phaseolus acutifolius<\/em>). Runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus<\/em>) handle both cool and hot climates. This versatile species can be eaten when in flower, as a string bean, or as a shelling bean. Finally, there are lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus<\/em>), with their half moon shape and buttery flavor.<\/p>\n

Steve Sando highlights a number of his favorite beans both in his book<\/a> and on his website<\/a>, not to mention his blog<\/a>. The majority of his top 50 beans are common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris<\/em>). They include \u2018Caballero\u2019, \u2018Classic Cranberry\u2019, \u2018Eye of the Goat\u2019, \u2018Eye of the Tiger\u2019, \u2018Good Mother Stallard\u2019, \u2018Moro\u2019, \u2018Rebosero\u2019, \u2018Snow Cap\u2019 and \u2018Yellow Eye\u2019. Several of his preferred lima beans include \u2018Balero Teopisca\u2019, \u2018Christmas Lima\u2019 and \u2018Florida Butter\u2019. Two favorite runner beans are \u2018Ayocote Morado\u2019 and \u2018Runner Cannellini\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the common bean category, \u2018Caballero\u2019 is one bean that he has placed in his top ten. It is a mild bean with the texture of heavy cream and the aroma of fresh vegetables. \u2018Classic Cranberry\u2019 has a thin skin and a nutty flavor, while \u2018Eye of the Goat\u2019–another all time favorite–melts in your mouth. \u2018Good Mother Stallard\u2019 is a versatile bean that makes a good pot bean, tastes wonderful with saut\u00e9ed mushrooms, and makes a mean Mexican charro<\/em>. \u2018Moro\u2019 works well in salads or soups and \u2018Yellow Eye\u2019 makes great baked beans.<\/p>\n

For the lima bean lineup, \u2018Balero Teopisca\u2019 is a small bean with a buttery flavor that cooks quickly, while \u2018Florida Butter\u2019 is dense and creamy with a vegetable-like taste. The runner bean \u2018Ayocote Morado\u2019 can be used in salads, soups and chili con carne, and \u2018Runner Cannellini\u2019 (not to be confused with ordinary cannellini beans) has a rich, buttery taste and texture. It can be served with a bitter green such as cooked kale and tomatoes or thrown into a salad with red onion and canned tuna.<\/p>\n

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'Good Mother Stallard'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beans are easy to grow, too. They like full sun and lots of water. Amend your soil with compost or composted manure so that it holds moisture and nutrients. If you are harvesting them young when they are string beans, go out on a daily basis and harvest handfuls. If you are interested in shelling beans (dried), wait until the seed pods mature. Cut back on your watering and let the plants slowly die. The pods will start to dry and become brittle.<\/p>\n

When they’re ready, open up a pod and peek inside. Depending on the variety, the seeds come in wonderful patterns and colors from the brown and white of an Appaloosa horse, to midnight black, to all types of strange mottling in cranberry, yellow, pink and cream. The easiest way to take beans out of their pods, according to the growers, is to place the pods in a pillow case and either smash it against your home a few times or use it as a pi\u00f1ata. Just be sure to take stock of your surroundings before you start swinging.<\/p>\n

Steve Sando recommends soaking your dried beans for two to six hours before you cook. Saut\u00e9 finely chopped vegetables such as onion, carrot, celery and garlic in a cast iron pan. Add beans and cover with one inch of water if pre-soaked and two if not soaked. Bring pot to a boil for five to 15 minutes and then lower the heat and simmer until the beans are done–between one and three hours. The lid can stay on or off–whichever facilitates the simmer best.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry about standing over the pot, either. Occasionally check the water level, but aside from that you can relax and read a book or start another project while the beans cook. If you lack recipes, the Rancho Gordo website<\/a> has a few proven winners, as well as a video on how to prepare your beans. Be bold this year in your choice of beans and your family will thank you for it.<\/p>\n

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Photos courtesy of Rancho Gordo<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t count out the humble bean–it’s so much more than “black, pinto, or garbanzo.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":22117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[1675,154,370],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Beans-yellow-eye.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sh0lU-beano","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22109"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22207,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22109\/revisions\/22207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}