San Franciscano Beans from Mexico
Deep‑toned beans with marbled purple‑brown skins,...
From £7.45 GBP
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Can't choose from the range of beautiful Mexican Phaseolus beans sourced by the Heirloom Bean Co in partnership with La Comandanta? Try our selection of 10 different varieties and save £5 too! |
You'll receive a box of 10 different varieties of bean from The Heirloom Bean Company's Mexican range, each 500g:
- San Franciscano Beans
- Vaquita Rojo Beans
- Ayocote Morado Beans
- Vaquita Negro Beans
- Zaragoza Beans
- Bayo Beans
- Pinto Beans
- Peruano Beans
- Flor de Mayo Beans
- Moro Beans
Working with La Comandanta
The Heirloom Bean Co has forged a new partnership with Mexico City’s La Comandanta, a business working to identify, rescue and promote authentic Mexican foods grown and made by rural producers using traditional farming and culinary methods. Through this partnership The Heirloom Bean Company is now fairly trading heirloom beans grown by smallholder farmers and processed and packed in Mexico.
La Comandanta’s motto Cocina una Revolución ("Cook a Revolution") describes their ethos that eating authentic food is an act of cultural and agricultural resistance to mainstream agrifood corporations. They’re committed to fair and transparent trade, and supporting social and economic development.
A key concern is the seed diversity and agricultural heritage of Mexico, with Bolivia one of two centres of genetic diversity of the Phaseolus bean species. La Comandanta aims to revive traditional Mexican farming and save heirloom varieties from extinction. Many farmers have stopped growing these varieties for lack of access to fair markets and fear of crop failure. To encourage and support them La Comandanta pays a fair price for crops and offers advance loans at the time of sowing.
The Heirloom Bean Co has visited many of the farmers growing beans to understand the challenges they face and pays an additional 15% premium over the farmgate price into a fund to cover the loans in case of any crop failure. As beans fall outside the usual commodities covered by fair trade labelling schemes the Heirloom Bean Co has introduced its own Fairly Traded emblem to communicate their partnership of trading fairly.
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Cooking beans - the Rancho Gordo method
Check beans for debris, and rinse thoroughly. In a large pot, sauté aromatic vegetables (onions, garlic, celery, carrot etc.) in olive oil. Add beans and enough water to cover by about 2 inches/5cm. Bring to a full boil for 10 to 15 minutes. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer, using a lid to help regulate the heat, and gently cook until done, 1 to 3 hours. Salt when beans start to soften. A pre-soak of 2 to 6 hours will lessen the cooking time.
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Ingredients
Dried Beans of various varieties
Latin name: Phaseolus vulgaris / coccineus / lunatus
Country of origin: USA, Mexico
Sold in resealable 1lb (453g) bags
