Anasazi Beans As many of you know, I have cooked a lot of dried Pinto beans over the years. Any more, if we have left over beans I don’t even want to take them home. When I was in the Chandler Honeyville Farms store the other day I picked up a bag of Anasazi Beans from my birth state of Colorado. The name "Anasazi" chosen by the milling company was thought to mean "Ancient One", a reference to the native people of that region. Actually the people in that region did not refer to themselves as Anasazi. It was a term that The Navajo used to describe them which translated means “Ancient Enemy". These little colorful beans were one of the few crops cultivated by the ancient pueblo peoples. Anthropologist discovered a 1,500 year old tightly sealed jar of them at a dig in New Mexico. They are also known as Heirloom Aztec Cave Bean or New Mexico Cave Bean. It is said that the first settlers who moved into the four corners area found these beans growing wild around the Pueblo ruins then locally cultivated them, but people of this region have grown the beans for thousands of years and keeping back seed from generation to generation was a common practice. The Anasazi is a white bean with a maroon pattern and is a cousin to the pinto bean. They are creamier, more flavorful and sweeter. They are easier to digest and therefore cause less gas than the other beans. Interestingly, the anasazi bean only has 25% of the gas producing properties of the pinto which falls roughly in the middle of the gas producing scale. Like the other beans, they rehydrate to three times their size but cook in less time than similar beans their size. Here is our bean recipe from the Cow Camp Cookery book, which would be great using the Anasazi beans – I would probably cut back a bit on the sugar and watch the cooking time – they may cook more quickly. When you can easily crush a bean against your teeth with your tongue, they are done. BISCUITFLATS BEANS This is our version of pinto beans for the cow camp. It does include some ingredients that ole cookie may not have always had in the chuck box, but they sure are good! Ingredients: 2 pounds (4 cups) pinto beans 6 cups beef broth ½ pound bacon 2 onions – chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 4 tablespoons sugar or ¼ cup brown sugar 2 green chiles or 4oz can diced chilies 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano 6 oz chorizo Add the following when the beans are almost done: 1 can El Pato 2 -14 oz cans stewed tomatoes* 2 limes cut into wedges (squeeze into beans when almost done) 2 tablespoons salt (as a rule of thumb, 1 tablespoon per pound of beans but taste as you go! Preparation: Sort, and soak beans overnight. Brown bacon in heavy pot add the chopped onion and saute until the onion is soft Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds to one minute. Do not drain bacon grease. In another fry pan, saute chorizo for about 15 minutes, until done and starting to crisp. Drain on thick paper towels. Add drained chorizo, Mexican oregano and diced chilies to the pot. Drain water from beans, add them to the pot and cover with two knuckles of clean water. Drizzle a bit of oil on the water (keeps them from foaming). Hang over the fire and cook slow for three hours, add tomatoes, salt, El Pato Cook for one more hour (or until done). Squeeze lime into beans, taste for salt and serve.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 04:54:20 +0000
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