We've made it! The holidays are behind us and we're hurtling towards the next growing season. It's both overwhelming and exciting as we work to lay out plans for the year ahead and begin our annual path towards, well, this moment!
Due to a variety of factors our yields for these were all over the place, some that needed to stay in the fields longer got sun scorched, while others went full out. I'm excited about two new things this year with our whole dried
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The Pasilla! Finally! For those who don't remember, we've been trying to add the Pasilla, one of the most commonly used in Mexican cooking, to our mix for years.
- Typically when we add something we grow it just for seed the first year, and then the second year grow it out for production. The first time we grew it out for seed, from a seed company not to be named, we grew a whole field of mystery chiles. Seriously, the seed company didn't know what they were, we didn't know what they were, nobody really knew. While we harvested em and got to turn em in to some awesome collaborative products, it was still a...frustrating experience.
- And so, three years later, with better seeds - we welcome legit whole dried Pasilla peppers!
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Second - new packaging (on most of em). It's colorful, fun, and was designed as part of our USDA Value Added Producers planning grant a few years ago. I'm excited to bring our designers work to life as the colors really do work well as both a family, and with the chiles inside. Is it possible for packaging to be sexy?
- That said, I don't love all the plastic, so if anyone out there knows anything about the recyclable bag style packaging used for pasta - please reach out!
A love letter to Tepary Beans
I will admit, I was not always the biggest advocate of our foray into beans. I didn't, shall we say, get it (I once made Krissy cry with my comments about beans.)
But the pandemic, coupled with increased weather extremes, and then our own quest to eat a more plant based diet, I've come around. While I'm not out eating em every day, building them into our weekly meal planning has been a fun challenge.
Tepary beans are an amazing little bean. Native to the American Southwest and Mexico these beans have been cultivated by indigenous people since pre-colobian times. Highly nutritious, and exceptionally drought resistant I marvel at these beans when they come in from the fields.
We describe the beans as similar to lentils in texture, while still being familiar enough to be a bean. Our brown Tepary beans have a nuttier flavor, while the tan tend to be a bit sweeter. While they take slightly longer to cook than our other beans (which isn't that long), the flavors lend an amazing depth to dishes.
Some recipes to try:
- Border Beans, by Hunt Gather Cook
- Tepary Bean Salad via the NY Times (you'll have to sub in one of our varieties for the white they call for - dealers choice!)
- Three Sisters Bowl With Hominy, Beans and Squash, again via NY Times Cooking
What to cook with Whole Dried Chiles
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Cooking with whole dried chiles can be a bit daunting. My father (hi dad), once looked at Arcelia's mole de pollo recipe and informed us that he needed to cook it with us first. Which he did, but has since gone on to make several times without us.
Our master salsa recipe is a versatile recipe that allows for some creativity, note taking, and variation depending on which chiles you add.
And our Dried Chile Romesco, to me, feels like a hug from when I lived in Colorado and when this condiment/sauce seemed to be ever present in the fridge. I love this stuff and could eat it on anything, from an egg sandwich in the morning to a charcuterie board at night (or with grilled veggies, chicken, fish, as a hummus alternative...you get the idea).
And finally, if you're ready to take the dive, Familia: 125 Foolproof Mexican Recipes by Marcela Valladolid is a great way to jump in with both feet. Guajillo, Ancho, and Pasilla figure heavily in her recipes!
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