Questions about bean varieties

[heidih]

I think you have it right. I usually see it without the 'a:".  Vegeta is generally in Hispanic or Euro import markets in the US. 

[Wolf]

Kayb and Heidih- you are both correct. I appologize for confusion- these are older symbols which I remember seeing in cookbooks when I was young, so I still use them in my notes (from which I copy-pasted the recipe before translating it to english).

 

Edited to add- Kayb, maybe disolving a small piece of boullion cube in the reserved cooking water before adding it to the dish would be OK substitute.

Edited January 29, 2019 by Wolf (log)

[chromedome]

I can't answer for the US, but in Canada you can find Vegeta at any Superstore in the seasonings section, near the bottled spices, Maggi, etc.

[Annie_H]

Ceci Neri are new to me and very good. When unfamiliar I make a 1/4 or 1/3rd pound to test the cooking time and taste. Add the time to the rest of the bag. Had some with an avocado brunch salad. Then a dinner pesto, and a noodle bowl. Nice to have some meaty little gems with a spoon and broth after the chopstick part of the meal.

[Annie_H]

Just got the e-mail RG bean club, lol. No issues but have so many in back-up pantry. I have a nice soup on the back burner using some nice beans I simmered yesterday. 

Humus tomorrow. 

Black garbanzos and all will be in tonights soup. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

6 hours ago, Annie_H said:

Just got the e-mail RG bean club, lol. No issues but have so many in back-up pantry. I have a nice soup on the back burner using some nice beans I simmered yesterday. 

Humus tomorrow. 

Black garbanzos and all will be in tonights soup. 

 

I too received the dreaded email.  Christmas limas pressure cooking at the moment.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The Christmas limas were quite tasty and attractive too.  Fortunate as I have a lot.  I cooked them with onion, a carrot, bay leaf, and a celery rib.

 

[Annie_H]

They are all so good. Only one in 4-5 years was a struggle to cook. For a tiny black bean it needed more time than expected. 

I think I'll spice and roast the rest of the garbanzos. And soak some more. Looking at falafel recipes for tomorrow. I get my garbanzos from Palouse so I have about 4 pounds left from the 5 lb bag.

 

What I do love is gifting but I've not been very social. 2018 I gifted my favorites. Corona, the little green flagoletes, and the Christmas limas for color---using the free shipping code. They all joined and thankful when we went into lockdown. 

 

[SLB]

I'm not sure if we've discussed the heirloom beans grown by Charley Baer.  He carries a bunch of common beans, but specializes in New England heirlooms,  e.g. Soldier; King of the Early; Marfax; Yellow-Eye. The brand is known to people who frequent farmer's markets in Maine, Massachusetts, and NH; but now have a functional mail-order system (you used to call and have a delightful conversation with a woman who had an old-timey Maine accent, I could've talked with her for days).

 

Anyway,  they're going to be profiled this Saturday on a New Hampshire PBS show called "Preserving New England", I thought folks here might be interested.  

 

https://nhpbs.org/schedule/summary.aspx?progId=WeekendswithYankee605&fbclid=IwAR0qbZVITiWkvfsz60d0sHKuiQj-15g9qXA3gDjd3OyMLXsjj8JHjuDpZOI

Edited May 4, 2022 by SLB (log)

[Annie_H]

Another bean club on its way. Pre-covid not an issue as I always used doubles or extras for gifting. Last summer I used the free shipping code and stocked up on my favorite flageolet and corona. Nice summer bean salads. That put me over the edge of stocked pantry beans. 

Made a nice fresh corn and bean salad tonight,-- fresh basil, using RG creamy limas and vaquero that have a gorgeous blk/white cow print. Their liquor gets merky dull purple grey about 15-20 minutes into cooking. Most beans lose their colors after cooking. I'm thinking about keeping a hot kettle on the back burner and draining the murky water with fresh hot. Sure the cooking water has flavor but for a summer bean salad might be nice to embrace and preserve the white/black. The only other one that keeps the color that I know of is yellow eye.

Broth water I can add to pups food me thinks. Not something I usually save for our meals/soups. But do us it if freezing grains and beans for later soups---use it as a wet broth so it freezes better having liquid in the pint/1/2 pint. 

[Katie Meadow]

6 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

Dinner is in progress. We'll call it British Columbia Red Beans and Rice. British Columbia because I cannot find red beans here. I can buy them just a few miles away, in Lynden WA, but that involves a trip across the border and today is a snow day so making do. I used kidney beans, put to soak last night. Also had to use turkey keilbassa instead of andouille because that's what I had and even if I cared to venture out, andouille is not to be found within a 30 mile radius. Funny story on that; we have a great local butcher whom we love to patronize. They are great for custom cuts and I can get veal shanks there with a day or two's notice. They also smoke a lot of their own meat - their bacon is fabulous. A while ago I called them and asked if they had or would have andouille. The young woman who answered my call said "no, but we have chorizo and I think that's the same thing." Bless their hearts - they are great community supporters and hire a lot of local kids. Smoked ham hocks are increasingly difficult to find and again, snow day so using a few rashers of double smoked bacon from said butcher. Using some smoked paprika to up the smokey taste - I'll let you know...

Kidney  beans are red beans. The most popular bean for Red Beans and Rice in the South is Camellia Brand red kidney beans. Before I started using RG domingo rojo beans for RB&R I used to order the organic dark red kidney beans from Purcell Mountain Farms, which are quite good. When I was in Atlanta visiting my daughter the only option was Camellia. I didn't think they were so great.

[MaryIsobel]

13 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

Kidney  beans are red beans. The most popular bean for Red Beans and Rice in the South is Camellia Brand red kidney beans. Before I started using RG domingo rojo beans for RB&R I used to order the organic dark red kidney beans from Purcell Mountain Farms, which are quite good. When I was in Atlanta visiting my daughter the only option was Camellia. I didn't think they were so great.

Interesting - when I researched, several sources said that kidney beans are not the same as red beans. The brand that I can buy just over the border are the Camellia that you mentioned. They are noticeably smaller, darker and rounder than kidney beans. Having grown up in the pacific northwest, beans were never a huge part of our diet so I acquiesce to those of you with more bean knowledge. Canned pork 'n beans, kidney beans for chili and the dreaded lima beans as a side dish were the extent of my bean experience growing up.

[Kim Shook]

59 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

Interesting - when I researched, several sources said that kidney beans are not the same as red beans. The brand that I can buy just over the border are the Camellia that you mentioned. They are noticeably smaller, darker and rounder than kidney beans. Having grown up in the pacific northwest, beans were never a huge part of our diet so I acquiesce to those of you with more bean knowledge. Canned pork 'n beans, kidney beans for chili and the dreaded lima beans as a side dish were the extent of my bean experience growing up.

Red beans and kidney beans are different.  Kidney beans are larger than red beans and have a stronger flavor.  Red beans are what they use in Cincinnati for chili beans.  I get them from Kroger.

[Katie Meadow]

2 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Red beans and kidney beans are different.  Kidney beans are larger than red beans and have a stronger flavor.  Red beans are what they use in Cincinnati for chili beans.  I get them from Kroger.

I stand corrected. However I also stand by the fact that Camellia beans are kidney beans. It says so on the package. And that is indeed what everyone in the South uses for red beans and rice. RG's Domingo Rojo make fantastic RB&R.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

29 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

I stand corrected. However I also stand by the fact that Camellia beans are kidney beans. It says so on the package. And that is indeed what everyone in the South uses for red beans and rice. RG's Domingo Rojo make fantastic RB&R.

I wonder when this tradition started?    Was there some kind of publicity blitz that converted housewives to the convenience of Camellia's peroduct?

[Katie Meadow]

4 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

I wonder when this tradition started?    Was there some kind of publicity blitz that converted housewives to the convenience of Camellia's peroduct?

All I know is that Camellia was started in New Orleans and has been in business for 100 years. The beans they use are not grown in the South. They just got lucky and cornered the Southern market; must be a combination of right time right place, good marketing and product consistency. My knowledge of red beans and rice history is pretty limited, but I do know that the common mythology is that the dish was made on Mondays, which was often laundry day, so a long slow cook was an advantage on a day when doing a week's worth of laundry must have taken a very long time. 

[kayb]

13 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

I stand corrected. However I also stand by the fact that Camellia beans are kidney beans. It says so on the package. And that is indeed what everyone in the South uses for red beans and rice. RG's Domingo Rojo make fantastic RB&R.

Agreed on the Domingo Rojo in RBR. My friend went to Baton Rouge and brought me back some fine andouille from the Cajun butcher shop. I’m seeing one more recipe of them before it warms up.

[Susanwusan]

Can anybody tell me how much canned pinto beans I should use instead of soaking and cooking a pound of dried as per recipe?

[blue_dolphin]

1 minute ago, Susanwusan said:

Can anybody tell me how much canned pinto beans I should use instead of soaking and cooking a pound of dried as per recipe?

 

One pound of dried beans (which is about 2 cups) will yield about 6 cups cooked beans.
If a recipe calls for canned beans: 1 15-oz can of beans equals about 2 cups cooked beans so you'd need 3 15oz cans.

 

I don't know what size tins are common for beans in your part of the world but maybe that will help.

[Susanwusan]

The recipe calls for a pound of beans, so I will need to get 6 cups-worth of drained canned beans?

[AlaMoi]

rule of thumb:  soaked beans from dried beans are 2.0 - 2.2 heavier. 

(one big exception is black beans - they increase 8x in weight....)

 

one pound would become 2-2.2 pounds soaked

 

the problem with canned beans is the net weight includes the juices.

to get 35 ounces of drained canned beans , , , my guess would be at minimum three 15 ounce cans, I'd get four cans - start with three cans, do the drain and weigh bit . . .