More than a hill of beans

I was talking to Hank Bissell, farmer at Lewis Creek Farm, about the local product gaps at City Market recently. When he heard that we were looking for local beans and grains he smirked and asked, “What else is new?! We’ve been looking for local grains and beans since the 1970s!”

Jacob's Cattle Beans from Morningstar Meadow Farm

Here we are, 40 years later, and our bulk bins are still filled with beans and grains grown in distant lands. Why? Beans and grains require infrastructure to harvest, clean, and process that is not readily available in Vermont. Beans and grains are also relatively cheap products that are tough to make money growing: many of our products in our bulk department sell for under a dollar or two per pound, a hard price to meet for local farmers just getting into growing these products.

All these factors made me really excited to receive a call from Seth Johnson who farms Morningstar Meadow Farm last month. He told me he had 4 kinds of certified organic beans he was interested in selling to us: Jacob’s Cattle, Soldier, Yellow Eye, and Black Beans. I immediately said we were very interested and connected him with our bulk buyer, Sean Flemming.

One whole row of local beans in the bulk department!

The beans have been selling like hot cakes (maybe bean cakes!). We got in 150 pounds of the beans 2 weeks ago and have sold through almost all of them already! I’ve been organizing samplings down in aisle 1 to educate customers on how to cook with dry beans and feature recipes that work particularly well for these heirloom varieties.

This year we won’t have Morning Star Meadow’s beans for long – Seth's supply is limited and the demand for his beans has been tremendous. Get them while there here – they’ll store for months in your pantry.

We haven’t totally cracked the local bean supply yet but perhaps we can impress Hank and have a supply that amounts to more than just a hill of beans.

Maple-Baked Apple Butter Beans
Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
This recipe calls for kombu, a kelp sea green that we stock with the bulk spices. The kelp contains a natural acid that tenderizes the beans as the seaweed itself melts away, leaving behind a luxurious sauce with complex flavor.

For this recipe, it is not necessary to soak the dry beans before cooking. Other local dried beans would work well in this recipe including Jacob’s Cattle and Soldier Beans.

¼ cup canola oil
2 medium onions, chopped
½ cup apple butter
One 5-inch piece kombu
1 pound dried yellow-eyed peas
½ cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons prepared mustard, or more to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 300º. Put the oil in a large ovenproof pot or casserole with a lid over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and golden, about 5 minutes. Add the apple butter and stir for about a minute until deeply colored. Stir in 6 cups of water. Add the kombu, beans, maple syrup, and mustard. Cover and bake for 2 hours, check, and continue baking for another hour if need be. Stir, then add water if needed to keep the beans covered, then cover again and cook until the beans are completely cooked, another 30 minutes or more. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, stir well to help break up the kombu, then taste and add more maple syrup or mustard if you like. Turn the oven up to 400º. Return the pot to the oven, uncovered, and bake until the beans are creamy and the liquid has thickened, another 30 minutes or so. Taste, adjust the seasoning, and serve.