Category: Food

After my smashing success buying cornmeal and flour from Castle Valley Mill, a local mill, I want to try getting beans! In the past, I’ve bought some from Rancho Gordo, a California-based company selling heirloom and rare bean varieties. Now that we’re in New York, however, I’d love to find some East Coast suppliers!

The small grain farm and mill map I’ve shared previously has some overlap with beans. I also found a list focusing on bean growers, and an organization and map focusing on small farms near Boston. Some bean suppliers I found mostly in the eastern half of the US:

• Anson Mills (SC) – heirloom sesame seeds, red field peas, purple cape beans. They also have larger quantities and a wider selection of products available “wholesale” (not sure if you actually need a wholesale license).
• Meadowlark Organics (WI) – black beans, cranberry beans
• Mulberry Lane Farm (IL) – various common types of beans, lentils, and peas from the US and Canada. Also sell other dry goods.
• Ramona Farms (AZ) – tepary beans, chickpeas
• Rio Del Rey Beans (CA) – tepary beans, anazape beans, rio zape beans
• Westwind Farm (MI) – kidney beans, cannellini beans
• Shadyside Farm (MI) – variety of heirloom/rarer beans, sourced from other farmers in area
• Aurora Mills and Farm (ME) – yellow split peas (can’t buy from directly?)
• Zürsun Idaho Heirloom (ID) – not-so-small operation, but has a wide variety of beans, peas, and lentils. Works with several hundred farmers in the area (can’t buy from directly?)
• Baer’s Best Bean (MA, some items sourced from other farms in ME, NY, and the Midwest) – wide variety of heirloom and common beans, and lentils and split peas!! Good East Coast replacement for Rancho Gordo. They also have an Instagram page showing bean-processing steps!

Honorable Mentions!

• Quality Organics (IL): buckwheat hulls as an agricultural byproduct! Anyone need to make a pillow?
• Flourist (British Columbia, Canada): wide variety of traceable Canadian beans. Farmers are in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan

I’m looking into Baer’s at the moment. I sent a message to ask where the lentils and peas are grown – from a 2007 interview with the owner, lentils and chickpeas don’t do well in New England due to the relatively wet weather.

J received a hydroponic garden system from his parents as a Christmas gift. Gardening is not so much his interest as mine, so I’m glad to play with it.

We’ll see how much output we get from this kit. If these particular seeds don’t do well, I’ll stick my own into the growing medium. It’s some sort of dirt-foam material.

We also had focaccia and homemade bread. Friend J, the one who does robotics, pointed out that this is a very Greek/Mediterranean meal.

Both the lasagna and the cauliflower soup (not shown) were good, but quite rich. Not a good combo since we didn’t have any plain dishes. Next time, I’d decrease the amount of cream in the soup by half or three-quarters.

We’re also staying in New York for Christmas and New Year’s…

Christmas buffet

• Deviled eggs
• Cheeses
• Olives and other pickled veggies (cocktail onions, peppadews, etc)
• Zucchini salad
• Focaccia or other crusty bread
• Quiche
• Coleslaw
• Avocado
• Bell pepper strips
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Lox + cream cheese
• Caramelized or pickled onions
• Chickpea salad with celery, parsley, and vinaigrette
• Roast cauliflower with pine nuts, capers, and vinaigrette
• Hummus
• Artichoke hearts
• Baba ganoush

Christmas Eve menu

• Hot cross buns
• Hash browns
• Cauliflower and bacon soup
• Spinach lasagna
• Lechón
• Buns (leftover from Thanksgiving 😳)
• Pear galette (but using apples instead)
• Chocolate meringue pie

The Christmas day menu is a bit sparse – I used up all my interesting food ideas on Thanksgiving.

These recipes combine a Betty Crocker recipe and one from my grandma. It is surprisingly fast to make!

Chocolate pudding

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch (or other refined starch) or 4 Tbsp flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups milk
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, starch, and cocoa powder in pan, being sure to remove lumps – sift if needed. Combine milk and egg yolks. Gradually add to pan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Let boil for 1 min, then remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Chill.

Vanilla pudding

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch (or other refined starch) or 4 Tbsp flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 2 tsp vanilla

As above, stirring in butter with vanilla. Chill.

Tips

• If you are having trouble with lumps forming during the cooking process, use a whisk to stir vigorously and make sure the heat is on low. As a last resort, strain the pudding after cooking. Do it fast before the pudding cools and thickens.
• I’ve only used the starch for this recipe. Flour has approximately half the thickening power of pure starch, so the flour amount provided should be about right, but you might need to adjust a bit.
• For thicker, richer pudding, replace some of the milk with cream and/or boil for longer than 1 min to reduce the water content.
• Butterscotch variation: substitute 2/3 cup brown sugar for sugar in vanilla pudding recipe.
• I find this pudding to have a gelled consistency rather than a gloopy consistency. If you want more gloopiness, try decreasing the amount of starch/flour.

Recipe from Jun’s Kitchen

• 300g flour
• 140ml water
• 15g salt (optional)

Sift the flour. Add water and salt. Knead until smooth. Let rest for an hour (optional). Roll out on a floured surface to a diameter of ~16 inches. Fold into thirds and cut into noodles about 1/4 inch wide. Boil for 10 min.

We used the quick bread recipe, but let it ferment overnight in the fridge to get better flavor. Besides good dough, I think the keys to good pizza are salty toppings (hence the bacon; the margherita used especially salty cheese) and putting the oven as high as possible.

We’ve forgotten to use an upside-down cast iron pan as a makeshift pizza stone the last few times, but that seems to improve the crust as well.

Full menu and recipe info here.