Rancho Gordo Scarlet Runner Bean

Cranberry beans are soft and dense with a soft, rich texture. The thin skins help produce a rich bean broth, making it the natural friend of pasta e fagioli (pasta fazool), as the liquid coats each noodle with its luxurious sauce. Thought to be originally from Colombia, this bean has been bred around the world to become Madeira, Borlotti, Tongues of Fire, Wren’s Egg, and more. In Mexico, you'll find these as Cacahuate (peanut) beans.

Whether you are a traditionalist and insist on a ham hock or a modern hipster cooking with just some aromatics and sea salt, eating Black Eyed Peas on the first day of the year is one of the best gifts of the south. And frankly, this country can use a little luck this year! A type of cowpea, Black Eyed Peas are believed to be native to Africa. They became an important food source in the American South sometime during the 17th or 18th centuries and at some point, they became a traditional good luck meal on New Year's Day. Cooking suggestions: Soups, stews, salads, Hoppin' John

This is the bean that started the whole thing! Steve was eating a bowl of simply cooked Rio Zapes and they blew his mind. He remembers: "The flavor was reminiscent of Pintos but there was so much more going on. I could detect traces of coffee and chocolate and the velvety texture was like nothing else. I was sold on heirloom varieties after just one bite." In 1935, Rio Zape beans (also known as Hopi String beans), were found in the Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings of the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Then, in the 1960s, archaeologists found them in the excavation of a sealed tomb in Rio Zape, Durango, Mexico. It's believed that the beans were sealed in the tomb around 600 AD. A beautiful bean with a mysterious history! Cooking suggestions: Pot beans, soup, dips, refried beans, casseroles.

"I hate lima beans!" is the reaction we get from most people when we show them the otherwise-appealing Christmas Lima beans. Customers are often surprised to hear that this a staff favorite! Christmas Limas are an intriguing variation on the traditional Lima, thought to have originated in Peru (hence the name Lima). They have a distinct chestnut texture and (according to some) flavor, but it's so subtle that's up for debate. In Italy, you'll find them as Fagioli del Papa or Pope's Beans. Also known stateside as Chestnut Lima and sometimes Calico Beans. Whatever you call them, they've done a great deal to help fix the bad reputation of traditional Lima beans. If you grew up thinking you hated Limas, you owe it to yourself to give this one a try. Cooking suggestions: Soups, salads, casseroles.

In the 1980s, Steve lived in Italy and loved these odd, garbanzo-like legumes. He never could remember what they were called, and when he’d ask his Italian friends about them, he’d describe them as old, wrinkled teeth. “Oh! Cicerchie!” The inspiration for these was from nostalgia, but after cooking them, we all agreed they are well worth revisiting. It turns out that they are not so obscure with Italian cooks, and smart chefs stateside love them, as well.

April Bloomfield described them in the Los Angeles Times a few years ago: “Once they are cooked, they taste like a pea crossed with a chickpea. Even though they are dry, they have a certain freshness.” Pluralization of Italian words can be confusing. Singular is cicerchia and plural is cicerchie, much like singular is biscotto and the plural is biscotti. You’d pronounce them "chee-CHAIR- key-ah." There is some concern about the toxicity of cicerchie. Diets of large amounts and little else will be unhealthy over time. The same is true of fava beans and polenta, by the way. Eat a varied, nutritious diet and you will be happy and healthy. Do not eat nothing but cicerchie for months on end. 

Is it marketing or is it history? Some would argue that a cassoulet isn't a cassoulet without Tarbais beans. Rather than suffer French prices, which can run up to $30 a pound when out of season, we took seed from France and produced this bean with our distinct terroir here on the West Coast. Out of respect for the French farmers and terroir, we're calling the bean Cassoulet bean. Cooking suggestions: Cassoulet, casseroles, soups, pasta e fagioli, baked beans, dips.

So much good food comes from Puglia (pronounced Pool-ya, more or less), and these Lentils, or lenticchie in Italian, are no exception. Lentils are prized in the Mediterranean, and most Italians would agree that the best lentils come from Southern Italy. We're ecstatic to offer you this new crop harvest for a limited time. Use them as you would any lentil but be sure and try them in a salad. Their delicate, nutty flavor is perfect at room temperature. Some of us grew up with lousy food co-op bulk bin brown lentils and might be a little hesitant to try these. We think these are very easy to like.

Please note: These lentils were harvested on equipment shared with wheat. We are finding some wheat kernels mixed in with the lentils and if wheat is an allergen for you, we recommend avoiding this crop. As with all our crops, we recommend sorting and checking for organic debris, and rinsing well.

Ayocote Negro are firm without being starchy and have a darker, inky bean broth than other runner beans enjoy. They are large, bold and one of the first beans we recommend if you're trying to sell a "steak and potatoes"-type on heirloom beans. Originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, the Ayocote family was one of the first cultivated crops of the Americas. They are grown all over central and northern Mexico. If you plant them, you can enjoy the flowers, eat the pods as a broad bean, or shell them fresh for shelling beans. Please note that this is not a traditional black turtle bean. When cooked, it's very similar to the Ayocote Morado or even Scarlet Runner. For a traditional turtle bean, we suggest our Midnight Black bean.

These have quickly become one of the staff's favorite beans. Because they are mild, they're a great canvas for however you want to prepare them. They look very similar to the classic Cargamanto bean from Colombia and they are likely related to the Spanish Tolosana bean from the Basque region. This delicious bean comes with a lot of mystery. We know they've adapted beautifully to the Willamette Valley in Oregon but the question is whether they were brought by pioneers in the 19th century or by an associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr in the 1970s. The only references seem to be from seed companies telling one or the other story. Cooking suggestions: Baked beans, soups, dips, casseroles, pot beans.

Classic white Navy beans are one of our commonly requested items. Our Alubia Blancas are similar in appearance, but far superior (we think) in flavor and texture. You can use them in all kinds of cooking, from Mexican to Tuscan to even classic Yankee baked beans. In Spain, dried beans are popularly known as alubias and many traditional dishes call for alubias blancas, a common name for white beans. Cooking suggestions: Soups, baked beans, salads, bean dips, pot beans.