Growing Frijoles Negros

To this day beans and rice is a favorite meal of mine.  It's such a simple dish, but so filling, healthy and satisfying!  As a youngster, my favorite was Red Beans & Rice and sausage with cornbread on the side. Before you served the beans over rice, it was very important that you would mash up a bunch of the beans.  This thickens the dish and makes what I call a bean "gravy" or roux. 

You might say that beans are beans, but my Mom and everyone I knew were partial toward a specific brand of Red Beans and bought them with the sort of brand loyalty that you would thing only exists with diehard Chevy or Ford folks.  Camellia Red Kidney Beans.  They came wrapped in a clear cellophane bag so that you could inspect every perfect, shiny red kidney bean inside the bag.  

At one point I was going to attempt to try to grow our own red kidney beans.  Up to this point, I haven't done it, but if I might buy some Camellia Red beans and see if they'll germinate.  For the past several years, though, I've planted Black Beans.  They are called Black Turtle Beans, to be specific.  Black Beans or frijoles negros are a special dish in Latin America and Mexico.  Mainly, Tricia cooks them like you would refried beans.  As a treat, we put the refried black beans in a fresh flour tortilla, fold and eat.  It's a simple, tasty meal.

So let's go out to the garden, where our black beans are slowly ripening.  I only have one row of them and the dry, dry month of October is not doing the yield any favors, but my goal is to grow them and watch them closely as they mature.

The black beans have lots of pods, and they are ripening.  My goal is to allow them to mostly ripen on the stalk until they are almost totally dry and the pods have turned yellowish-brown.  You don't want the pods to get dry and crack open, though, as you'll lose the beans when the pop onto the ground.

Each day I check the beans and pick those that have dried.  I carry them to our fancy black bean dryer apparatus for the finishing touches on drying.  I lay them in the sun on our expanded metal patio table.  The sun completes the drying process and the table allows maximum air flow.

When the pods are dry and 'crinkly' to the touch, we pop open the pods and collect the black beans in a bowl.  We just started the harvesting process and have a lot left to go, but here's what we have so far.

We'll eat most everything we pick but will save some for planting for next year.  The Black Turtle Beans I buy are non-hybrid and come from rareseeds.com, so they are perfect for seed saving.  Perhaps 2025 is the year that I'll grow Red Beans!

It Doesn't Look Good, But it Tastes Great!

Last night I showed you that we planted some cowpeas in the garden plot in the side yard.  The three rows in our main garden are about to play out and it was time to get some new ones planted to have peas consistently coming in.  It is important in these crazy times to have food in your pantry and food in your garden.

Tonight I'd like to show you another sort of strange crop we have growing:  Black Turtle Beans.  They are, as the name suggests, black.  They are called turtle beans because they have a hard outer shell.  This bean is popular in Latin America and Cuba.  I harvested a bucket of them the other day.  I let these dry on the bush before picking.

I meant to save a photo of the black beans after I shelled them, but Tricia started cooking them before I was able to get a shot.  Suffice it to say, they are black and shiny.  We like to make refried black beans and use them as a dip to eat with chips.  We soak the beans for 7 hours in water and a some Apple Cider Vinegar.  We rinse the beans and cook them like you would any other bean.  When they are done, we pour most of the water off, add some oil and 'fry' them in a skillet until the consistency is like that of bean dip.

Then we dip our Blue Corn chips into our refried Black Beans for a delicious snack!

It may not look pretty, but it tastes great!  I saw the black beans were blooming again in the garden.  Perhaps we'll get another harvest.

Spring Garden in Late April (Part II)

Back again.  Here is the second half of the garden update.  After the four rows of onions, we have two rows of tomatoes.  I had a catastrophe this year with all my planted tomato seeds.  I lost almost all of them.  I supplemented with (mostly) heirloom varieties that we purchased at a local nursery.

It won't be that much longer before we have red ripe tomatoes!

I have another row of corn.  This one is a shoepeg corn called "Country Gentleman."  I like that name.  The corn is a whitish color and it is sweet.  The weird thing about it is that the kernels aren't in uniform rows like most other corn.  the kernels are randomly spread.  I'll explain better with a photo once we harvest.

I have four varieties of okra planted this year: Clemson Spineless, Beck's Big Okra, Burgundy Okra, and Jing Orange Okra.  We ran completely out of okra this year before "gumbo season" was over.  Shame!  That won't happen again.

Here is a little plot of rainbow chard.  You can see how it gets its name.  The one with bright yellow veins and stems is hidden behind the other leaves.  The greens and stalks are sweet and very healthy.

From left to right in the photo below:

Amaranth!  Now, I've never grown or eaten this before, so this is a new thing.  It is supposed to be very healthy and a high source of protein.  I'm learning something new here.

Bull's Blood beets: We're harvesting beets almost every day now and eating them with every meal.  

Black Turtle Beans:  These will be over-running the beets soon.  We dry these and then make refried black beans.  We really like them with fresh-made tortillas!

And that about wraps up the garden, except for the potato patch and the melon patch.  Maybe I'll show you that next week?

Harvesting Black Beans

We planted some Black Beans again this year.  Officially, they are called Black Turtle Beans.  They are very common in Latin American and Caribbean cuisine.  We've eaten refried black beans.  I decided to try growing them again.  Growing them is a little different than growing snap beans, for instance.

What you want to do is to allow the beans to ripen on the bush.  Below, you can see the ripening black beans on the left side of the photo below.  On the right side of the photo you can see sweet potato vines.

Here is an up-close photo of black beans that are ready to pick.  The only thing I can tell you to clue you in that they are ready is that the bean pods will be brown and "crinkly" when you touch them.  You don't want to harvest before they are dried.  On the other hand, if they get close and you get a lot of rain, you run the risk of your beans sprouting in the pod.

I used an old #10 can to walk the rows and pick all the dried pods off the black bean bushes.  Then I brought them inside and spread them out on a platter.

They don't look appetizing at all.  In fact, they look dry, dead, ugly and inedible.

However, when you crack open the pod to expose what's inside, you can see beautiful, shiny black beans.

Normally, I'd sit outside and shell them.  However, this weekend, the humidity was so high, it felt like I was drinking in air instead of breathing it.  I opted to sit in the kitchen and make a big mess while I shelled the black beans.  I turned on some old country music and sang along with Merle Haggard as I shelled them.  I had quite a pile of empty pods when I was done.

I also had a big bowl of black beans, too!

I have a lot of black beans left to pick.  Many of the pods were not quite dried.  Next weekend, weather permitting, I'll go out and pick some more black beans.  I'll be sure to save about 50 of the prettiest beans to use as seed for next year.  Speaking of next year, I plan on doing the same thing with Red Kidney Beans so that we can grow our own Red Beans for Red Beans & Rice & Sausage.

Black Beans For Breakfast

Earlier this summer in THIS POST we talked about experimenting with growing and drying black beans.  We ended up with a large bowl of shiny, beautiful black beans.

So what to do with them?  Tricia recalls growing up in South Texas (Corpus Christi, to be exact) and fondly remembers a meal that her mom would make them for breakfast.  Tricia's mom made this meal with pinto beans, but we're going to make it with black beans, since we grew some in the garden this year.  Pinto beans, Tricia says, are more of a 'South Texas thing,' whereas black beans are more of a Mexico staple dish.  She wanted to prepare it for us.  First she soaked the black beans and cooked them on the stove.

Then, using a stick blender, she pureed the black beans and continued cooking them until a lot of the water evaporated.  They began to really thicken up.

While they were thickening, Tricia began to make homemade tortillas.  You can buy tortillas at the store, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm spoiled to the homemade ones.  It takes more work, but they are far superior to store-bought ones.

Once they're all rolled out you pop them in a heated skillet, flipping them once until they are golden brown.

So now to continue in a walk down memory lane with Tricia and her recollections of comfort food as a kid.  Taking a warm tortilla in your hand, spoon out some black beans onto the tortilla and spread evenly on one side.

Fold the other side over and then place in a skillet with oil and fry the 'black bean quesadilla,' flipping once in the oil until both sides are golden brown.

Now, you are ready to eat!  I added some sliced red and green jalapenos from the garden that I just picked and squeezed a lime over it.

Tricia was interested to see if it tasted like her childhood.  She said it did.  Black bean tacos for breakfast!  Muy bueno!

Experiment in Drying Beans - Red & Black

Yesterday I posted about sunflowers, but realized at lunch today that I never hit the "publish" button; therefore, there will be two posts today.  This one tells of an experiment in drying beans.  Since today is Monday and traditionally "Red Beans and Rice Day," it is appropriate to start with red beans.  I knew shortly after planting that my red kidney bean harvest was not going to be great.  Only about 60% of the beans germinated - bad seed.  I'll try a different seed next year. 

However, I'm not one to give up easy.  I planted other beans in their place, but still watched the red beans.  The point of making dried beans is to dry them on the stalk.  They will load up with pods, mature, ripen and die.  The pod will turn brown.  You know it is time to pick them when you shake the pods and they rattle.

Dried and ready for picking

When you pop open the pod, big fat red beans reside inside.  They were hard and dry and their appearance confirmed it was time to pick them all.

Dried Red Kidney Beans

I picked a small bucket of the dried red kidney beans and brought them inside to shell them.  I like shelling beans.  There's something about transforming ugly, brown pods into shiny beans that excites me.  I'm weird like that.

Dried bean pods

As a kid I remember my mom buying Camelia Brand Red Kidney beans to make Red Beans & Rice.  They came in a clear cellophane wrapper that showed off the beautiful red beans inside.

When the shelling was complete, I had a small bowl of dried kidneys - about half a pound.  Tricia is going to have to supplement some store bought beans to make a good pot of RB&R.  I'll not save any of these seeds.  We'll eat them.

Red Beans with Criolla Sella Peppers behind them

A second, more successful experiment was with drying black beans - also known as turtle beans.  The germination was 100% and they grew and loaded up with pods.  I picked them when they were dry and we shelled them around the island in the kitchen.  The black, shiny beans were pretty, I think.

I had a big bowl full of dried black beans.  This will be enough to eat as well as save about 100 or so for seed.

For seed and for eating

I put them on the scale and the small patch of beans produced a pound and a half of beans.  Not bad for the little experimental patch I grew.

Tricia will make a nice pot or two of refried black beans - one of our favorite side dishes on taco night, along with sliced jalapenos and limes.  Mmmmm...

Black Beans to Refried Beans

Back in THIS POST we talked about making homemade corn tortillas and the side dish with that meal was refried black beans.  When we can, we like to grow things and I had never grown black beans.  I ordered a package of Black Beans (Turtle Beans) from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and we discussed planting and harvesting them In This Earlier Post.

Now the growing conditions were not favorable for growing beans during this time. In fact, it rained every day and a lot of the beans were unable to dry in the pods and actually sprouted in the pod and had to be discarded.  We did salvage some, however, and ended up with a white bowl full of shiny black beans.

I can remember back when my brother-in-law got married down in Mexico City, we went to eat breakfast and they served refried black beans as a side dish TO BREAKFAST!  It seemed weird, but it worked.  It was very good.  We like to eat black beans as a side dish. To get these beans into edible form, it takes a little bit of work, but not too much.  Here's what we did:

First Tricia soaked the beans overnight in filtered water mixed with a little vinegar. This causes the beans to swell up.  Soaking the beans reduces phytic acid that is present in them that reduces the bodies ability to absorb minerals.  By soaking beans, you are making them healthier!

Then Tricia pours out the water and rinses off the beans. She puts them in a pot, adds water to cover and adds kosher salt and then covers and cooks for about an hour.  Once they are all cooked, she tastes them for doneness and seasoning.  Now comes the usage of Tricia's favorite kitchen gadget.  My parents gave us an immersion blender that we use all the time.  Using the immersion blender, she purees the black beans.

The consistency of the black beans is still not right, though - too much liquid.  She adds a Tablespoon of cooking oil and continues cooking and stirring until some of the liquid evaporates and the consistency is perfect.  And there you have it - Refried Black Beans! They may not LOOK appetizing from the picture, but they are delicious!

We'll do this again, but I broke the cardinal rule of gardening - I "ate my 'seedcorn'". Because of the weather that contributed to a small harvest, I didn't save any of the heirloom seed I harvested to grow again next year.  When I sit down to take inventory of seed this Fall, I will definitely order more Black Beans.

Our First Try At Growing Black Beans

Tricia likes to cook Black Beans.  In Spanish they are called frijoles negros.  I have also seen them called black turtle beans.  Tricia makes refried beans with them.  We always buy dried black beans to soak and then cook and so I thought, "What the heck?  Let's grow some."  I purchased a package of seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds.com) and since they are open pollinated seeds, I'll save a few to replant next year.

The heat of summer is upon us and repeated rainfall has really played a number on the black beans since they are planted on the lower end of the garden.  They look kind of sickly in spots, but they are full of pods.

Since I have never grown them before, I did a little research on when to harvest them.  I actually opened up a green pod to see what they look like and oddly, they weren't black yet.  I read that you don't want to harvest them when the pods are green as they aren't ripe yet.

You also don't want to harvest them when they turn pale yellow either.

You really want to wait until they are dried and the pods are brown.  Of course, you have to time the harvest perfectly, because if they get too dry, the pods will burst open and your black beans will scatter all over the ground.

The other problem with waiting for them to dry on the stalk is that with our amount of yearly rainfall, leaving them in the pods to ripen exposes them to the risk of sprouting in the pod if it stays wet.  With more rainfall approaching, I figured that I should harvest now so as not to risk losing the crop.  I went out and pulled the mostly ripened dry pods off the plants.

I sat in front of the television tonight and shelled a bowl full of beautiful black beans.  Some of the beans were sprouted, but most were perfect.  I'll let them dry for a bit and then we'll cook them up.

There are plenty green pods still on the plant, so I'll check for ripeness in a week and harvest more of them  It will be nice to eat some, put some dried black beans in the pantry and save some for planting this fall and again next spring.

Making Homemade Corn Tortillas

We had made some homemade corn tortillas in the past with some corn that we soaked and put in the food processor to make the corn masa.  While they were good, the dough was hard to work with and the consistency just wasn't right.  I don't know if maybe the food processor didn't get the corn ground up as fine as it needed to be.

Anyway, Tricia wanted to try again, so she ordered some organic corn masa from Azure Standard Co-op.  It came in the delivery last week in a 5 pound bag.  She added some warm water and salt to some of the masa and let it sit for an hour. Then she kneaded it with her hands, making a nice dough.

Ready to Roll!

She grabbed a nice-sized amount in her hand and rolled it into a ball slightly larger than a ping pong ball.

We have a cast iron tortilla press that we use to press out fresh corn tortillas.  Just place the ball in the center between two pieces of plastic (so it doesn't stick).

Applying some pressure

When you open the press up, you have a perfectly round corn tortilla, ready to put on the griddle or comal or skillet.

Tricia placed the corn tortilla on the heated comal for a little while.

Then she flipped it over once it had risen a bit.  The fragrance of the corn tortillas cooking filled the kitchen!

Fresh Corn Tortilla ready to eat...

Tricia had deboned one of our chickens and seasoned it with cumin and other spices.  She also made some Mexican rice.  Another side dish was refried black beans.  She soaked her beans and then cooked them.  When done, she used an immersion blender to puree them.  Then she added a tablespoon of oil to a skillet and added the black beans.  Over time the water will steam off of the beans and the process of stirring them makes for great, flavorful refried black beans.  Not appetizing to look at, mind you, but delicious.

What a meal!  Stay tuned as we'll now make homemade tamales with the masa.  This ought to be fun to make and even more fun to eat!!