Daily Pot of Beans
I’ve been eating beans since I was old enough to eat food.
They are a basic pillar of Mexican cuisine, and an incredible source of plant-based protein.
A diet high in legumes reduces inflammation, and lowers the risk of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Santiago-Torres, 2016. Legumes are also known to be a good source of bioavailable nutrients such as copper (Saari, 2006).
Traditionally, in Mexican cooking, beans are eaten with corn tortillas, which together create a complete protein. Beans have 9 essential amino acids and are lacking one—methionine—which corn provides. Conversely, corn lacks 2 essential amino acids which are found in beans: lysine and tryptophan (Serna-Saldivar, 2015).
I make beans once a week. I grew up with a pot of beans on the stove, but with my busy schedule these days I’ve taken to using a slow cooker, putting my beans on before lunch, and having a perfectly cooked pot of beans for dinner without having to stay in the kitchen all day.
Many recipes call for soaking beans prior to cooking them in order to soften their skins and increase digestibility. The recipes passed down in my family, however, along with myriad traditional Mexican cookbooks that have lined the shelves of my family’s kitchen shelves for generations, don’t call for soaking. The water beans are cooked in contains many of the nutrients that seep out during cooking, so keeping the beans in their cooking liquid increases the nutrients we end up consuming, and storing cooked beans in this liquid keeps the beans from drying out. The trade-off is a longer cooking time, but beans aren’t something to be rushed. (If you’re in a hurry, canned beans can be a good alternative.)
Soaked or not, being able to eat beans without getting gassy takes some practice for those who weren’t raised in a Mexican kitchen. However, eating beans with corn is another way to increase digestibility (Calderón de la Barca, 2021). The addition of each herb and vegetable in this recipe is meant to aid in digestion as well. Epazote, in particular, is an ancient herb, traditionally cooked in beans all over Latin America.
I also highly recommend mindful eating—chew your food, have gratitude for your meal, slow down a little. Beans have been sustaining families since the beginning of time, there’s no reason to be in a hurry with beans, either at the stove or at the table.
Daily Pot of Beans
Serves 6 as a side.
Cooking time: 2 ¼ - 6 ¼ hours (15 min prep / 4-6 hours crockpot, OR 2 hours stovetop)
Ingredients:
Pinto beans - 3 cups
Water - 6 cups
Onion - I large
Garlic - half head (6-8 medium cloves)
Carrots - 4 medium carrots
Celery - 2 medium stalks celery
Epazote - 1 teaspoon
Celery seeds - 1 teaspoon
Mexican oregano - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste (wait to salt until ready to eat)
Cooking Directions: Crockpot
(See variations for stovetop tips)
Turn crockpot on high to get it warmed up.
Sort beans, removing broken, wrinkled, flakey beans, keeping an eye out for small rocks, etc. Rinse thoroughly.
Cut onion in half, then in half again a couple times - should be cut larger than what you would consider to be “chopped.”
Peel half a head of garlic, and gently smash each clove.
Wash carrots and celery, and cut into large pieces (approx 3” long, slice in half if they are much thicker than ¾” or so).
Boil water over the stove or with an electric tea kettle. Add to the crockpot: beans, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, epazote, celery seed, and oregano. Cover with boiling water, at least two inches above the beans (approx. 6 cups).
Cook on high for 6 hours minimum.
Notes & Tips:
For all-day stovetop cooking, bring all ingredients to a boil over high heat, turn down to a simmer with the lid slightly ajar and leave cooking for about 2 hours or until beans are tender. Check them at least once an hour, and never leave a stove unattended.
I tend to take my time and turn storting into a weekly meditation. It’s my time to let the sound of dry grains between my fingers take me back in time. I look for broken and wrinkled beans, as well as beans with bug holes, tiny stones, and any that look rusty-colored or feel brittle when I rub them between my fingers. This takes a bit of time, but I swear the beans taste so much better than when I’m in a hurry and have to rush this step.
Digestibility: The herbs & vegetables recommended here are all optional, all are meant to help in the digestibility of beans. It’s different for everyone, and often there’s a period of introduction with new legumes in order to condition your system to digesting and absorbing all the nutrients of new types of beans: start with small quantities, and increase over time. And be sure to chew your food and eat slowly and mindfully!
Storage tip: Beans typically taste better if you cook them within 2 years of their harvest date. But it’s hard to tell how old beans are when you buy them. If you’re buying in bulk you can choose stores that have a higher turnover so you know they’re getting in fresh product regularly. Also US grown beans tend to be fresher than imported.
Scholarly References:
Calderón de la Barca, A. M., Martínez-Díaz, G., Ibarra-Pastrana, É. N., Devi, S., Kurpad, A. V., & Valencia, M. E. (2021). Pinto Bean Amino Acid Digestibility and Score in a Mexican Dish with Corn Tortilla and Guacamole, Evaluated in Adults Using a Dual-Tracer Isotopic Method. The Journal of nutrition, 151(10), 3151–3157. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxab216
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022316622003820?via%3Dihub
Saari, J. T., Reeves, P. G., Johnson, W. T., & Johnson, L. K. (2006). Pinto Beans Are a Source of Highly Bioavailable Copper in Rats. The Journal of Nutrition, 136(12), 2999–3004. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/136.12.2999
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022316622085625?via%3Dihub
Santiago-Torres, M., Kratz, M., Lampe, J. W., Tapsoba, J. D. D., Breymeyer, K. L., Levy, L., Villaseñor, A., Wang, C.-Y., Song, X., & Neuhouser, M. L. (2016). Metabolic responses to a traditional Mexican diet compared with a commonly consumed US diet in women of Mexican descent: a randomized crossover feeding trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 103(2), 366–374. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.115.119016
Orona-Tamayo, D., Valverde, M. E., & Paredes-López, O. (2018). Bioactive peptides from selected latin american food crops – A nutraceutical and molecular approach. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 59(12), 1949–1975. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2018.1434480
Finley, J. W., Burrell, J. B., & Reeves, P. G. (2007). Pinto Bean Consumption Changes SCFA Profiles in Fecal Fermentations, Bacterial Populations of the Lower Bowel, and Lipid Profiles in Blood of Humans3. The Journal of Nutrition, 137(11), 2391–2398. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/137.11.2391
Additional References:
Bean Institute: https://beaninstitute.com/
Mother Earth News. (1972, January 1). Stretch Your Food Budget with Pinto Bean and Corn Recipes. https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/corn-and-bean-recipes-zmaz72jfzfre/#:~:text=Beans%2C%20however%2C%20contain%20all%20the,protein%20quality%20to%20fresh%20milk.
Rancho Gordo: https://www.ranchogordo.com/blogs/recipes/cooking-basic-beans-in-the-rancho-gordo-manner
Serna-Saldivar, S. O. (2015). Nutrition and Fortification of Corn and Wheat Tortillas. Tortillas, 29–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-1-891127-88-5.50002-5
US Dry Bean Council: https://usdrybeans.com/
