Eating a more plant-based diet for the past few years has given me an appreciation for the humble bean. Black, kidney, great northern, garbanzo, lentil, and more have become some of my favorite foods.
When we lived in Rhode Island, the closest bulk food store was Whole Foods and before putting a hard embargo on Whole Foods/Amazon, I was able to fill my jars and cloth bags to my hearts content. Now in the sticks, bulk foods are harder to come by but there’s a few places ~30m+ away that I’m excited to check out.
But beans! I love the convenience of canned beans since I can add them on the go to whatever weird hodgepodge from the fridge I’m putting together. The cans that get tossed are an unfortunate cost to delish cooked beans but buying dry beans could help curb some of that waste. However, the beans I’ve got stocked in the pantry did come in plastic so neither option is really perfect.
The stars of this weeks chili include kidney and black beans~
Before, I never used dry beans cause it seemed cumbersome and the convenience of canned beans couldn’t be matched. Once I got a bit more militant about low/zero waste, I started using both canned and dried. I don’t think I’ve gotten the hang of using dried beans yet but that’ll come with time.
A great book that overlaps ~natural~ cooking and a zero waste lifestyle is the book above: Zero Waste Chef by Anne-Marie Bonneau. I consider her to be a hardcore zero waster and while I’m very intimidated by what she’s given up (i.e. microwaves), she’s a living example of the positive changes that can be made in one’s life.
Her book has been a great guide for everything in the kitchen and many of my food experiments have come from her knowledge. You can find my previous posts using her book below:
Kombucha: http://ftepermaculture.com/2022/06/07/home-brewed-kombucha/
Sourdough: http://ftepermaculture.com/2022/04/13/success-in-sourdough/
To start dried beans, simply do the following:
- Measure & rinse 1 cup of preferred beans
- Fill bowl with enough water to cover the beans + 1-2in of water above them
- Cover with a plate or bowl cover and let sit for 6 hours (up to overnight for us L-A-Z-Y folks)
- Cook in whatever recipe you’d like!
- Use the 5 Bean Test to test the doneness of the beans. If you can eat 5 beans without them feeling underdone, it’s time to eat!
Once the kidney and black beans sat overnight, into the slow-cooker they went. 6 hours later, we had a bean & veg chili in preparation of the first snow of the season~ unfortunately it wasn’t my best chili but it’s a warm, healthy soup and it certainly won’t be the last.