It's the last week of Bean Month! This week we're focused on the Anazape bean - a new Californian hybrid from accidental cross pollination of two quite old, North American indigenous beans.
If you bought this bean from us in November or December, it was grown on our farm. If you've purchased it since January, it was grown at Blue House Farm in Pescadero, CA. It's our first attempt at increasing our bean supply with the help of other small farms in Northern CA. More on this at the end of the week :)
Anazape: A North American Cross
In 2016, Mike Reeske had 23 acres of beans in production in San Diego County. Part of that production system were two 1.5 acre parcels - one of anasazi beans and the other of Rio Zape beans. While hand sorting through the 800 pound crop of anasazi beans, Mike’s wife came across 25 individual beans that looked a bit different. As a closed pollinated crop, beans can only cross pollinate with the help of bees. And it seems that bees had brought pollen from the Rio Zape beans over to the flowers of the anasazi beans to create a hybrid.
An important thing about hybrid beans is that the odds of a bean that has been hybridized in a field to “stay true” and grow into the same kind of bean you planted is pretty low. But Mike and his wife took these 25 beans aside and planted them the next year to see what would happen. Luckily, the beans grew “true” and they saved the beans from those plants and grew them again. During the next year of growing these beans out for seed, the farm suffered a massive heat wave when the bean plants were flowering, the majority of the crop was lost, and they had to start over with the little quantity of beans they had left.
Overall, it took Mike 5 years of growing out these beans to have enough to cook and eat. When he finally was able to try them he was pleasantly surprised and exclaimed, “Oh my god these beans are rich!” He was pleased with the flavorful gravy/pot liquor that the beans produced and started sharing them with chefs in the San Diego area. He named the beans Anazape as a hybrid of its parent beans, the anasazi and Rio Zape. Any Anazape bean out there originated from those 25 beans hand picked from the anasazi crop in 2016. There’s not that many of us growing these beans, making them even more special.
Last year, we bought 5 pounds of Anazape seed from Mike and this produced about 125 pounds of beans (These beans haven’t gone through the same processes as the Southwest Gold beans we grow to be resistant to bean common mosaic virus or have increased production so you can see that one pound of beans in the field produced about 25 pounds of beans.). We saved 15 pounds to use for seed this year and sold through the rest pretty quickly.
Since so few people had the chance to try these beans, we connected with Blue House Farm in Pescadero, CA to purchase some of their Anazape crop. The Anazape beans we have for sale right now are from Blue House and are Organic certified and if you purchased some of the beans that we grew, you might notice there’s a bit of a coloring difference between the two beans.
The beans we grew have much more purple/brown coloring and the beans from Blue House have more white with brown and purple speckles. These phenotypical differences are a result of growing under different conditions! Our climate in Boonville has hotter days and less fog compared to the climate down in Pescadero where its much wetter, foggier and cooler. In July, Boonville’s average daily high temperature is 92 degrees versus 68 in Pescadero. These temperature differences result in more colorful Boonville-grown beans compared to more white Pescadero-grown beans. I think this is so cool and am glad we are in an environment that produces more colorful beans!
A little about the beans that made Anazape
Image from Rancho Gordo
Rio Zape
In the 1960s, a team of archaeologists were exploring a cave near the Rio Zape in Durango, Mexico. Inside the cave (now known as Cueva de los Muertos Chiquitos), they found the bodies of 7 young children (eep), necklaces, plaques with turquoise inlay, shells, and most importantly, offerings of food.
Alongside the corn, agave, and piñon, the archeologists found 590 dry beans of 12 different varieties from the desert Southwest, Northern Mexico, South America and the West Indies. The beans found in Mexico were dated to be from 600 AD, which when it was excavated in the 60's would have been a 1,350 year old bean! One bean was a pinto-like bean with deep brown/purple color and a distinct line down the middle.
Beans older than this had been previously found, but never before preserved so well. One of these beans had also been found in 1935 in an Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwelling in New Mexico, now part of the Zuni Pueblo. It seems to have been continuously grown on the other side of the border. This bean, now known as both the Rio Zape Bean and Hopi Purple String Bean. Learn more
here
Image from Trade Winds Fruit
Anasazi Bean
To preface, the word Anasazi is actually a Navajo word for “ancient enemy”. When referring to the tribe, Ancestral Pueblo is the preferred name to use. But, the official name of these beans is currently trademarked as Anasazi.
These beans were cultivated by the Ancestral Pueblo people in the Southwest and Mexico for over 7,000 years, making them one of the first cultivated crops in North America. The beans are white and red mottled with a thin skin and good flavor. In the late 1800s to early 1900s as colonists took over Native land and forced assimilation of white culture on the tribes, growing these beans fell out of favor as people scorned Native American food traditions and food crops. And when more high yielding pinto beans were introduced, the Anasazi bean’s production reduced dramatically.
Then in the 1970s, Ernie Waller from Dove Creek, CO came across a bunch of these beans in a warehouse on his farm and started growing them out. He called and trademarked these beans Anasazi Beans and is the biggest producer of these beans in the country through his business called Adobe Milling. There much unsubstantiated lore that various folks (some part of the Waller family and some from other communities in the area) came across pine tar sealed ceramic vessels filled with Anasazi beans in Ancestral Pueblan ruins, basically stole the artifacts, and started growing the beans. I have a feeling Ernie just had some sitting in a barn and forgot about them. Find out more about Anasazi beans
here
Recipes for this week: Anazape Beans
You'll have a hard time finding more than a few recipes out there specifically for Anazape beans, but start looking for recipes for Anasazi beans or Rio Zape beans and you’ll have a bit more luck. Or just use them as you would any black or pinto bean! They have rich, deep flavor that is pretty different than the other beans we grow. They get really creamy, but break down a bit more than Southwest Gold beans. The foods I’ve been cooking with them have skewed a bit more Mexican, but there’s a lot you can do with them!
1. Enfrijoladas I went to Oaxaca, Mexico last year and on my first morning there had Enfrijoladas. Think Enchiladas but with a bean sauce instead of a chile sauce. The Anazape beans were perfect for this. Basically you cook the beans with onion, garlic, and I added a little Mexican Oregano and our Yahualica chile flakes. Gently fry up a corn tortilla and dip it in the beans to cover. You can fill the tortilla with a bit of queso fresco or just crumble it on top. I used this Rancho Gordo recipe as a guide, but ended up blending the beans into a puree after an unsuccessful first attempt of tortilla dipping. I also topped the enfrijoladas with steamed chicken tossed with salsa verde and pickled jalapeños. I’ll be making this regularly with these beans. Here’s another recipe to follow as well - I like the idea of the chipotle peppers in there too.
2. Sweet Potato and Bean Tacos with Yahualica Olive Oil Salsa: I do not tire of eating these tacos. And this Yahualica Olive Oil salsa is not only pretty easy to make (just make sure to turn on your hood or have some kind of ventilation when toasting the chile flakes!), but it is basically a dupe of my favorite grocery store creamy chipotle salsa.
Tortillas are filled with a simple bean mash and roasted cubed sweet potato seasoned with a bit of Yahualica chile flakes. There’s plenty of toppings with avocado, queso fresco, radish, lime, cilantro, and pepitas.
3. Rio Del Rey’s Pot of Anazape Beans Since Mike created these beans, it’s important to include a recipe for how he cooks up a pot of Anazape beans. If you’ve heard of “Brothy Beans” as a meal, this is a great recipe to follow. It is simple, but with lots of flavor. He sent me a recipe that also includes adding a tablespoon of Chimayo chile powder when the beans are boiling - our Piment d’Ville (Classic or Smoky) would work as a substitute. A lot of brothy bean recipes call for white beans, which I think is mostly to keep the broth less colorful and have the beans appear “cleaner.” I think using a super flavorful bean is a better option and would opt to use the Anazape.
5. Anazape Bean and Winter Squash Traybake With utterly frigid temps across the country, a cozy and warm baked vegetable dish seems like a comfort to cold bones. Get a loaf of crusty sourdough bread for dipping into this roasted vegetable and bean bake.
6. Haystacks are something eaten by various denominations of Christians in North America. To be clear, Haystacks are not Nachos, nor are they a taco salad. I was introduced to Haystacks by a friend who grew up in the 7th Day Adventist Church. I remember texting my cousin and asking if she had ever eaten Haystacks before as she was actively eating Haystacks in a church basement in Pittsburgh for a Mennonite wedding celebration.
These Haystacks are all about the beans. I added a few cups of cooked Anazape beans (and their liquid) to a pot and simmered them with ground cumin, garlic powder, a bit of onion powder, Guajillo chile powder, and Comapeño chile powder. I cooked them till the beans broke down a bit. Then it's time to assemble. Here’s how my friends make theirs: start with a layer of Fritos on a plate. Then add (in this order!) beans, cheese, shredded iceberg lettuce, diced tomato, diced onion and olives if you are into them, avocado, sour cream, and finally salsa. Regional differences abound with Haystacks so if you make yours differently, that’s great! Sometimes these classically American flavors really hit the spot.
7. New Orleans Style Red Beans and Rice Okay I recognize that these beans are not red, but I do think that they would add the right flavor to Red Beans and Rice. And with Mardi Gras coming up, it seems like the perfect time to make Red Beans and Rice with our Anazape beans. This recipe has you cook the beans with the onion, bell pepper, and andouille sausage in them so I wouldn’t use already cooked Anazape beans for this. I’m going to try this on Wednesday night!
8. Charro Beans If I haven’t given you enough options of ways to eat bowls of beans, here’s one more. These hearty beans are made with bacon and ham and are named after Mexican Cowboys who would make big pots of these beans over the fire. Serve these beans with rice and tortillas.
A Note on Agriculture Policy: This month has been an incredibly rough time for people working in agriculture and food policy as well as farmers across the country. This includes us! We're still waiting to see if funding from the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure grant that we were awarded by the USDA last year will actually come through. We've already purchased a $13k piece of equipment that is supposed to be reimbursed through the grant, and if we don't get the funding, it hits our bottom line in a way we did not planning for.
I have other farmer friends waiting to hear if the $100k of funding they were promised through this same grant to build critical farm infrastructure to expand production and provide more produce to local school districts will come through and if they can proceed with their crop plan for the year or if they need to pivot hard. I have friends at the USDA who are unsure if their job will exist tomorrow. And I have friends who are trying to figure out if the large contracts their organization has with the EPA to help measure economic and environmental impacts of regenerative farming practices will be upheld in the midst of 3/4 of the staff being terminated due to canceled government contracts. If you don't have friends who are farmers or who work in food and agriculture policy, you will still be affected by these sweeping government changes. The loss of government funding to farmers will directly result in increased food prices for consumers. If any of this is concerning to you, I recommend calling your elected officials.
The news outlet Civil Eats has put together a Food Policy Tracker tool that is regularly updated with information about the cuts, impending policy, and what is happening at the national level. If you are interested in keeping up with what's happening in food policy, its a great place to start.
