The Bean Book from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen
The Bean Book from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen
From Steven Sando, the founder of...
From £30.00 GBP
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A properly incredible, super-rare bean with an amazing history, available in the UK for the first time. Certified organic beans, cultivated at Ramona Farms, Arizona, USA. The Heirloom Bean Co sources these Phaseolus beans from Vermont Bean Crafters in New England, America. |
Tepary beans are truly remarkable: tiny, drought‑defying seeds domesticated 5,000 years ago by the indigenous communities of the Sonoran Desert, and kept alive through generations of careful stewardship by the Pima and Tohona O’odham nations.
Their story is both ancient and urgently contemporary — a crop shaped by millennia of adaptation, nearly lost to modern agriculture, and now revived through cultural pride, scientific interest, and the work of dedicated farmers such as our growers: Ramona and Terry Button of Ramona Farms in Arizona.
Teparies were once grown widely across the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, valued for their ability to flourish where other crops failed. They can survive temperatures over 48C, need astonishingly little water and are naturally pest resistant, producing a full, nutrition-dense harvest in just 60 days.
The traits that made teparies essential for desert peoples now position them as a climate‑resilient crop for the future. Research highlighted by Alliance Bioversity–CIAT describes how these heroic legumes, though historically central to Indigenous diets, slipped into obscurity as industrial agriculture favoured uniform, high‑input varieties. Their work documents efforts to locate remaining landraces, understand why they were neglected, and support communities in restoring them to fields and kitchens. It’s fitting that this noble survivor finds itself in a varietal class of its own: the solitary Phaseolus acutifolius.
These certified-organic black tepary beans are a rare and recent arrival in the field at Ramona Farms: they’re a little firmer in texture than the white variety and exude a distinctive meaty tang after a decent stint on the hob. Another very special bean that you can’t buy anywhere else in Europe!
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Recipe Suggestions
Black teparies make absolutely belting pot beans, retaining a nice bit of bite even after a long simmer. Cook with onion, garlic and a jalapeno chilli or two, plus the juice of a lemon and a squeeze of tomato puree - along with some epazote (Mexican oregano) if you can get it, or marjoram if you can’t. Finish with coriander, spring onions and a sliced avocado. Winter fuel at its finest!
Cooking these beans
Place 1lb/453g of dried beans in a pot with 2.25 litres of water and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and soak for 2 hours. Pour off soaking water, rinse beans and add 2.25 litres of fresh water. Bring pot to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Partially cover the pot and cook beans until tender (approximately 6 to 8 hours). Or place in a slow-cooker crockpot on high for 8-10 hours, or 45-60 minutes in a pressure cooker (add hot water as needed in both cases). Add salt to taste (after cooking). Rule of thumb - if you can't smell them, they aren’t done!
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Ingredients
Black Tepary Beans
Further info
Similar to: Pinto, Black Garbanzo, Cranberry
Latin name: Phaseolus acutifolius
Country of origin: USA
Sold in resealable 453g (1lb) bags
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Typical values Per 100g Energy 1518kJ (362kcal) Fat 1.3g of which saturates 0.4g Carbohydrate 68g of which sugars 1.1g Fibre 18g Protein 24g Salt 0.01g
