I have been enjoying slow-cooking pots of beans. Let me be more specific… dried legumes not coffee beans. We have an exciting group of fresh/new crop beans at 3CUPS. They come from the high plains of Colorado and are dry-farmed. Because of the high altitude they are essentially farmed organically but are not certified. They are fresh and really delicious. My personal favorite is an heirloom bean called a Bolita. It is similar to a pinto but more tender and even sweeter in flavor. If you’ve cooked dried beans that didn’t satisfy you, because of a crumbly, too-dry texture, you are not alone. The reason why beans taste this way and have this unpleasant texture is because they are too old. Dried beans have a shelf life, too. Just like the maple syrup when our supplies are gone we will not have anymore until next year, so come buy your winter’s supply at 3CUPS this weekend. Don't forget to pick up a copy of my own basic beans recipe.

A pot of properly prepared beans has potlikker that together with the buttery bite of the bean itself, is very satisfying and unctuous. This is archetypal peasant food and really comforting to me. Seasonal food like this just will not do when it’s 70 degrees outside. Foods like beans, stews, and other hearty dishes make me enjoy the wintertime.

In Europe dried beans are sold as new-crop in the late fall and winter. The inventory left over from the previous crop is sold off as a lesser commodity. Beans grow in the summer and become dried in the fall and are ready for the winter. But if there are still beans left from last summer, and nobody is paying attention, then you end up with old beans that cannot be cooked back into good food.

I recently purchased a pound of heirloom beans from a specialty foods retailer in town and could tell after the overnight soak that the beans were old. I called the bean company and gave them the code date on the bag and in fact they were not this year’s crop. When I asked if they could ship me an assortment of their heirloom beans that were new-crop, assuming it was the retailer who had old inventory they said, “Oh, we are still shipping last year's crop.” I asked what’s good about heirloom beans if they are too old to enjoy? They said, “people don’t seem to mind and sales are fine.”

Beans have long been seen as poor folks food, our country relegating beans to be packaged in a tin can. Think about the foods we package in glass jars versus the one’s in tin cans and you’ll get a quick idea of a foods value in our culture. Here’s the problem with beans in a can, they are cooked in the can and so you’re instructed to rinse the slurry off before using. Why? Because the potlikker tastes like a tin can.

As a Southerner, I have a freezer full of butter beans, lady peas, and varieties of Crowder peas purchased at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market. But I also like black beans, white beans, and brown beans. And to enjoy them fresh we decide to order and sell them at 3CUPS where taste is everything!