KNOW YOUR 1 of 4 LEGUMES The legume family (plants that produce their seeds in a pod and sometimes have the ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil) is big and badass, and includes beans, peas, and lentils. These foods have been on our plates for thousands of years as one of the first cultivated crops, domesticated around 7,000 years ago according to By Roxanne Webber Photographs by Chris Rochelle the Northarvest Bean Growers Association. They’re low in fat, cholesterol-free, cheap, and a good source of protein (Images not actual size) and fiber, and there is a huge variety to choose from. Here’s a snapshot of what’s out there; some of these legumes are common, others less so. For the hard-to-find beans, we went to Steve Sando, founder of Rancho Gordo bean company in Napa, California. Mayacoba Yellow Indian Vaquero This small bean has a very Woman Sando believes this medium- thin skin and a meaty interior. This is a fast-growing, sized, thin-skinned chili bean is Sando swears it has a chicken incredibly creamy, small bean a mix of the Anasazi and pinto flavor when you cook it simply that keeps its shape during beans. When cooked, it loses with a vegetable mirepoix, and cooking like a black bean and its white spots and creates he says it makes one of the can sub for black beans. an inky pot liquor. It’s not best refried beans out there. superdense but won’t fall apart when stewed. Know Your Legumes 2 of 4 Silvia Flor San Franciscano Cargamanto de Junio Sando imports these beans Cranberry This is a classic Central from a small farmer in Hidalgo, A variety of cranberry bean Mexican bean, great for Mexico, but believes they are from Colombia, with a thinner cowboy beans or any kind of nearly identical to another skin than the more common Texas-style ranch beans. It’s bean called Rio Zape. They Borlotti cranberry bean. medium-sized, light in texture, are similar in size, flavor, and Quite versatile, with a velvety with a thin skin, and stays texture to pinto beans but texture. Its characteristic deep whole while cooking, then richer, with a hint of chocolate- red streaks disappear when dissolves easily in your mouth. coffee flavor. San Franciscanos cooked. Cranberry beans are This variety doesn’t age well make a good stovetop bean often used in Italian cuisine though—if you find some, eat (a.k.a. pot bean), producing a (sometimes referred to as a them within six to eight months very dark, flavorful broth. When Roman bean) and are good in of harvesting. cooked, they lose their black minestrone soup. streaks and turn dark purple- brown. Pinto Split Pea Black A common workhorse bean (a.k.a. Field Pea) (a.k.a. Turtle Bean) in the U.S., the pinto is most Ham’s best friend in a hearty An earthy, sweet bean small frequently served refried. Pintos soup, this type of pea is in size and often used in lose their streaks and turn solid specifically grown for drying Caribbean and South/Central brownish pink when cooked. instead of eating fresh, and American cuisines. If you cook cooks up very fast without black beans in their soaking soaking. You will find yellow water, they will retain more of and green varieties. their dark coloring. Santa Maria Lila French Green Pinquito This small, round bean is very Lentil This small, meaty, dense bean sweet, plump, and juicy when A very tiny lentil with a speckled is traditionally served with cooked, which makes it great gray-green exterior and a tri-tip barbecue in Santa Maria as a simple pot bean. The pink yellowish interior. It is less County, California. color turns brownish when starchy than the common flat cooked. green lentil and doesn’t get mushy as easily, which makes it perfect for using in salad recipes. Know Your Legumes 3 of 4 Christmas Lima Vallarta Cannellini From Peru, this large lima This medium-sized bean is A medium-sized, subtly flavored bean tastes like chestnuts so incredibly rich and creamy white bean. Cannellini beans when cooked and even has a (almost peanut buttery are versatile and work well similar texture. You can also when cooked) that Sando in soups, stews, or even in a cook it longer for a creamier recommends cutting it with hummuslike dip, which makes texture. Sando says it’s great something like bitter greens. them a good pantry staple. Like prepared with garlic and lots He says that it’s a favorite of kidney beans, they need to be of mushrooms. It is one of the French Laundry, but that boiled for at least 10 minutes to the few beans that retain their it’s a bean people either love remove toxins. pretty markings when cooked, or hate. but the window is short—cook longer and the markings will disappear. Adzuki Navy Scarlet Runner This small, round red bean has A small, dense white bean This large bean is often grown a sweet flavor and is often used named for its longtime service ornamentally for its beautiful in Japanese desserts. It is also to the U.S. Navy. It’s often bright red flowers, and can a popular bean for sprouting the bean in a can of pork and be eaten young, pod and because of its nutty flavor when beans and is a classic for all, like a flat green bean, or sprouted. baked beans. Allow plenty of shelled and dried. It is similar time for navy beans to cook. to a lima bean, with a meaty, starchy texture. Sando says scarlet runners create a “beef bouillon–like, dark and dense pot liquor” when cooked. Fava Red Lentil Rosa de Castilla (a.k.a. Broad Bean) This lentil has a great color A medium-sized, lightly textured A large, flat bean that has been but cooks fast, as it is sold bean similar to the Silvia Flor cultivated since ancient times with its skin removed (unlike de Junio. Sando says it’s great and is similar in shape to a other varieties such as the cooked with lots of vegetables. large lima. Favas are a spring French green lentil), and will delicacy, when they appear disintegrate if you overcook fresh at farmers’ markets, it. Red lentils are used in and can be shelled and lightly many cuisines, from Indian cooked in dishes like risotto. In to Ethiopian, and have a mild their dried form (pictured), they flavor. are often stewed in variations of the dish ful medames throughout the Middle East. Know Your Legumes 4 of 4 Green Lentil Giant White Lima Black-Eyed Pea Probably the most common Lima beans are named after the This relative of the mung bean lentil on U.S. supermarket Peruvian city of the same name has been cultivated since shelves (and sometimes labeled where they were encountered ancient times but is probably as brown), it is starchier than in the 16th century by best known for its role in the French green lentil, and European explorers. Often sold Southern cuisine. It’s said to will fall apart with long cooking. frozen or dried (pictured), limas bring good luck if eaten on It cooks fast, which makes it are starchy, buttery, and mild- New Year’s Day. good for a quick weeknight flavored. They’re sometimes lentil soup. called butter beans. Kidney Black Beluga Flageolet Commonplace, the kidney bean Lentil A narrow, small, French variety is great for chili or red beans Similar to the French green of bean. “People like it because and rice, and is also a go-to lentil but black, this tiny you can cook the heck out of bean for classic picnic salads pulse is named for its shiny it and it still stays whole and like three-bean salad. Never eat resemblance to caviar when creamy,” says Sando. Try using kidney beans raw, sprouted, or cooked. It has a mild-earthy it in a classic French cassoulet. undercooked, as they contain flavor and a firm texture as long Flageolets are great paired with a toxin that is destroyed during as it isn’t overcooked. Try it in lamb—Sando loves them as a cooking. soups or as a bed for fish. bed for a braised lamb shank— and are often served with fish in France. Soybean Yellow Eye Garbanzo Cultivated in China for A small, dense bean that’s (a.k.a. Chickpea) thousands of years but only creamier in texture than a This round, nutty bean is grown in the United States standard navy bean and has a common in Middle Eastern since the early 1920s, the unique gold-and-white pattern. dishes like hummus and falafel soybean is now used in the Use in place of other small and Indian fare such as chana production of many products, white beans. Sando says the masala. It has a firm texture from tofu to miso, and is valued yellow eye is a classic East when cooked and is most for its high protein content. Coast “chowdery bean” that commonly seen in its beige pairs great with pork. form (shown), but there are also black, brown, and even green varieties. For more information on legumes, go to www.chow.com/stories/12048..