When
I was researching for my blog post on the Tohono O'odham people, one of the
foods they relied on was the ‘white tepary bean’. With my New Year’s
Resolutions in mind (#3. Eat more wisely), I thought I would research these
beans to see how they compare to the more traditional beans I grew up eating.
Not because I plan to add these to my diet (although I could... at least one of
my sources will gladly sell me a pound or more, complete with cooking
instructions), but because if I’m going to think of food between meals, I
should probably make it healthy types of food and not left-over Christmas
candy. Or any kind of candy.
The
information on the O’odham people specified white tepary beans, but there are
many varieties of tepary beans. One source even listed several wild varieties,
which they will sell me a packet of 50 to grow in my own garden. Alas, Florida
is not the same climate as the Sonora Desert, so I don’t think they would grow
here very well. Especially with me being the unskilled gardener than I am.
Tepary
beans - including the white varieties - are native to the Sonoran Desert. They
were first domesticated in Northwest Mexico some 4,000 years ago. The ‘secrets’
of growing and using them were passed down from generation to generation,
particularly among the O’odham people. Being a desert plant, they are tolerant
of heat, drought and alkaline soil. In the last 30 years, tepary beans have spread
to other arid regions worldwide.
Beans
are already super foods, but tepary beans are even higher in protein (21 grams
in 1/2 cup!) and fiber. Their fiber helps control cholesterol and diabetes. These
small beans have a meaty, dense texture and are savory in taste. White versions
are slightly sweet, while the browner versions have a more earthy taste. And
even with all this fiber, tepary beans produce less gassiness than other beans
like navy, pinto or kidney beans.
During
the 1920’s, Tohono O’odham farmers grew 1.5 million pounds of tepary beans per
year. However, during the 1930’s, increased mechanization and irrigation led to
less tepary beans being grown, and by the 1950’s, teparay beans were extremely
rare.
Native
Seeds/SEARCH began to promote the use of tepary seeds in the 1970’s and 80’s,
and today they conserve nearly 100 versions of domesticated and wild tepary
beans, adapted to low and high desert environments.
Their
website had pictures of different varieties, so I compared the ‘domesticated’
to the ‘wild’ types. The domesticated beans seemed very much like navy or pinto
beans in shape, and each bean looked pretty much the same as all the others of
that type. But the wild varieties were much more angular and looked more like
pebbles, all the same color. I imagine the angular edges are from more seeds
being crowded into one pod, and they squish each other trying to get as big as
they can.
We
can call Florida many things, but ‘desert’ is not one of them. Maybe I could
try to grow them in pots in the house, but they like temperatures as high or
higher than 100°F, and we have the air conditioning on long before the house
gets that hot. I am NOT heat tolerant, and if the house ever got to
temperatures teparies like, I would not just wilt, I would try to melt.
Guess
I’ll just have to order a pound and see what they’re like.
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