An heirloom plant is a varietal that has not been used in the modern large scale farm production, but rather passed down through family or farm from an earlier period in time.

Heirloom beans are a variety of common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). They share their species with green snap beans, pinto beans, Great Northern beans, kidney beans, black turtle beans, cranberry and borlotti beans, flageolet beans, pea beans, pink beans, other white beans, and yellow beans. These beans, along with corn (maize), and squash were the “three sisters” of Native American cuisine.

Common beans share the genus Phaseolus with tepary beans, runner beans, slimjim beans, lima beans, butter beans, and spotted beans. All of these beans belong to the the family Fabaceae, along with edible-pod and mature peas, soybeans, fava beans, black-eyed peas, jicama, adzuki beans, lentils, lima beans, peanuts, chickpeas, carob, and licorice. The family also includes broom, gorse, and kudzu.

Heirloom beans and all 200 varieties of P. vulgaris originated in the tropical southern part of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and part of Costa Rica, where they were cultivated as early as 8,000 years ago.  They spread from this center of origin to North and South America.

European explorers, including Christopher Columbus, found the climbing beans typically planted alongside corn. In Columbus’s diary from November 4, 1492, he describes lands in Cuba planted with faxones and fabas “different than ours.” Later he encountered fexoes and habas that were different than the ones he knew from Spain. Faxones and fexoes were probably cow peas and fabas and habas were fava beans. The beans Columbus found were common beans, Phaseolus vulgaris. When Christopher Columbus returned from his second voyage to the New World in 1493, he brought the common beans back with him to Europe.

Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485–1528) was a Florentine explorer in the service of King Francis I of France. On July 8, 1524, he wrote to King Francis, reporting on the people of what is now Rhode Island, “They live on the same food as the other people—beans (which they produce with more systematic cultivation than the other tribes, and when sowing they observe the influence of the moon, the rising of the Pleiades, and many other customs derived from the ancients)…” Native Americans boiled the bean pods at the mature stage and pulled the beans between their teeth, discarding the pods.

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján (1510 – 22 September 1554) and his fellow explorers are believed to have been the first Europeans to eat beans grown by Native Americans in what is now New Mexico, between 1540 and 1542.

There are many heirloom bean varieites, including:

1. ‘Caseknife’ Bean; White Dutch Caseknife Bean: Developed in Italy during the 17th century, this bean is one of the oldest documented pole beans cultivated in American gardens. Its name refers to the broad, slightly curving table knives used in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It has a similar commercial name, Schwertbohne, in Germany, literally meaning “sword bean.” The bean also went by a number of vernacular names, the most common in this country being the Clapboard Bean, which was the name used in Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery (1796). The oldest and reputedly best caseknife has white seeds, which was the type Thomas Jefferson grew, although many sub-varieties were developed in the 19th century. One of the leading French varieties was the Soissons, introduced into the U.S. in 1841. There is also an old variety with brown seeds still in circulation in the U.S.
2. ‘Brown Lazy Wife’ Bean: David Bondeli, a land agent who helped organize the Swiss Mennonite emigration to America, is believed to have taken this bean from Pennsylvania to Switzerland about 1705. From there, the bean spread throughout the alpine regions of Europe. In colonial Pennsylvania, the bean was sometimes used in conjunction with chestnut flour to make dumplings, flat hearth beads, and soups. It was also combined with lentils and was one of the beans used in the vegetarian dishes of Ephrata Cloister during the early part of the 18th century. Not a true Lazy Wife, this chestnut-colored pole bean is was described by Georg von Martens, a 19th-century German authority on beans, in 1869. It was known in southern Germany and among the Pennsylvania Dutch as the Linsenbohne, or lentil bean, since it resembles a brown lentil. It was used as a soup bean throughout the poorer agricultural regions of Germany, Switzerland, and northern Italy. In the United States, it was grown in the hill regions of western Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio, the region from which it may originate.
3. ‘Hickman Snap’ Bean: The Hickman family of Draper Valley, Virginia, preserved the seeds for this popular variety. The Hickmans came down from Pennsylvania in the 1730s, so the bean may have originated there. But because the bean shares traits with the Old Virginia Brown Cornfield Bean, which is said to be of Cherokee origin, it is probably a cross of several varieties. It is one of the few heirloom beans that produces many types of beans at once, a sign of a recent cross. The bean is used a snap bean, and also makes an excellent dry bean. The beans are a mix shapes and colors, including dark slate gray, chocolate brown, honey tan, black, and a gray white, but not all in the same pod. There are also several pod types, measuring between 6.5″ long and 7.5″ long. The beans have a bacon-like flavor when sprinkled with sea salt.
4. ‘Scotia’ or ‘Genuine Cornfield’ Bean: Instead of calling this a cornfield bean, it would be more authentic to refer to the Scotia bean as frijoles de milpa, the name by which it was known when it entered Louisiana with Spanish occupation in the 18th century. This old bean was only one of ten similar zebra beans listed by Italian naturalist Gaetano Savi in 1822. In the Veneto of northern Italy, the bean was known as fasioi tavarini, and it could be found in most parts of Europe. It acquired its common names when it became commercialized in the 1890s, and was recorded among the Iroquois at the turn of the 20th century as a bread-and-soup bean. In several Iroquois dialects the bean is even referred to as a “wampum bean,” one of the gift foods used for settling contracts and marriage dowries in Iroquois society.
5. ‘Blue Coco’ Bean: Also known in the U.S. as Purple Pod and Blue Podded Pole, the Blue Coco bean is one of the oldest of the purple-podded pole bean varieties still under cultivation. It was known in France as early as 1775, and throughout the latter part of the 18th century, it was popular with American gardeners. An illustration of it appeared in the Album Vilmorin in 1870.
6. ‘Lazy Wife’ (Hoffer’s Lazy Wife) Bean: The Lazy Wife of American gardens is not the original German bean of the same name once popular throughout southwest Germany, Alsace, and Switzerland. That bean, known as the “True Lazy Wife of Swabia,” is a scarlet red, pellet-shaped bean identified by Georg von Martens in 1869. Also known as Purple Cardinal Pole Beans, Stringless Cardinal Beans, and Early Imperial Snap Beans, they were called Lazy Wife Beans (Faule-Weiber-Bohnen) because they did not need to have strings removed before cooking. The Swabian bean and the bean that the Pennsylvania Dutch call Fault Fraa Buhne are both Kugelbohnen, a type of bean Germans thought looked like grapeshot. The Faule Fraa of Pennsylvania was introduced into this country in the latter part of the eighteenth century under its standard German name Sophie-Bobnen (Sophia Bean). The Philadelphia seed firm of William Henry Maule stated in the 1890s that the bean originated in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; however, the bean had been sold to local farmers as early as 1802 by Bernard M’Mahon under the name Round White Running. It was also known as the San Domingo bean. Maule likely rediscovered a common old German variety and created a new name for it. The pods are considered excellent for snap beans and shelling beans, and the dry bean is an excellent soup bean. The Pennsylvania Dutch often puree it when cooking it in soups.
7. ‘Pea’ Bean or ‘Frost’ Bean:  American and British gardeners use the term “pea bean” quite differently, even both refer to beans with the same general shape. In America, the term is applied to white, pea-like Marrowfat Beans, such as the Boston Navy Bean. American white pea beans originated with the Iroquoian peoples of New York State, and there are now well over 100 distinct varieties. The two-color pole variety of England is known in the U.S. as the Frost Bean, or Fall Bean. Amelia Simmons called this bean the Frost Bean in her American Cookery (1796), stating that it was only fit for shelling. In fact, it works well as a shelling bean, and even better as a dry bean. This bean is also called the Gross Nanny Green Pole Bean (Der Grossnanni ihr orient Schtangebuhne), preserved by the Miller family near Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. The Millers use it as a snap bean, but it is excellent as a baked bean or boiled for bean salads. The seed is white, with a large irregular splash of maroon around the eye. Georg von Martens identified this pole bean as the Halbrotbe Kugelbohne (Half-Red Grapeshot Bean) in 1869. James J. H. Gregory introduced the bicolored pea bean in his 1875 catalog. In England, it became one of the most popular of all dry pole beans, valued in particular for its meaty flavor and its reliability in cool climates. In the American South, it is called the Fall Bean for this reason. Jeremy Cherfas, former head of genetic resources at the Ryton Organic Gardens in England, wrote a short piece on pea beans for the garden’s newsletter in 1994 because there has been a resurgence of interest in this family of heirloom beans.
8. ‘Red Valentine’ Bean: Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied, a German explorer and naturalist, was the first European to observe this bean among the Native Americans living along the Missouri River in 1815–17, and he took the name they called it  and wrote it phonetically in German as ohmenik pusaebne. The bean was taken to Europe, where Dutch plant breeders called it the Thousand-for-One Bean. In England, the bean was called the Refugee Bean or Purple-Speckled Valentine. In Germany, it was called Thousand-for-One, Little Princess, and Salad Snap Bean. Italian naturalist Gaetano Savi (1769 – 1844) was the first botanist to catalog it. It made its appearance in the U.S. about 1837 at David Landreth’s seed farm near Bristol, Pennsylvania, where it was launched as a “new” bean. Georg von Martens sorted out its history when the people involved its development were still living. In his 1869 bean book, he named the bean Phaseolus oblongus turcicus, Savi. In German, the name was Türkische Dattelbohne (Turkish date-shaped bean) because of the widespread presumption that it had been introduced into Europe from Turkey. In 1870, the American Agriculturist put the Early Red Valentine at the top of the list for American kitchen gardens. In 1889 the American Garden called the Extra Early Red Speckled Valentine a “capital round bean.” Valentine beans are valued as snap beans for their long, pencil-shaped round pods.
9. ‘Sulphur’ Bean: The name of this bush bean is a catchall term for a number of similar beans that come from a common source. Gaetano Savi knew of it. The French referred to one of their yellow hybrids created from a yellow-and-white cross as the haricot petit Nanquin (Little Nankeen). This hybrid, which was not yet stable when it was introduced in 1839, came to be known as China Yellow. The Sulphur Bean should not be confused with the bean called Early China, also known as China Red Eye. This last bean was well known in New England and was often mentioned by Thomas Fessenden in his agricultural works, including The Complete Farmer (1839). Fearing Burr recognized two varieties in 1863, the Golden Cranberry and the Canada Yellow. Georg von Martens referred to this bean as the Yellow Egg Bean. The Golden Cranberry and the Canada Yellow were considered synonyms by Beans of New York (Hedrick 1931), but Canada Yellow comes closest to matching the Sulphur Bean of Seeds Blüm.  The true Sulphur Bean is famous as a stewing bean that cooks down to a creamy texture. It is extremely popular in the South as an ingredient in bean gravies, and when pureed, it makes an excellent base for soup.
10. ‘Trail of Tears’ Bean: According to Cherokee tradition, this bean was carried from North Carolina to Oklahoma during the forced march of the Cherokee Nation during the winter of 1838–39. Dr. John Wyche, a dentist of Cherokee descent lived in Hugo, Oklahoma. He was fascinated with Cherokee foods, and from his Cherokee connections obtained the bean now known as Trail of Tears, which he sent to Seed Saver’s Exchange in 1985.
11. ‘Red Cutshort’ Bean: This bean has existed in the American South for many years. Among the native peoples of the South, the bean was used for flour and cooked in combination with cornbread or dumplings. The true Red Cutshort is nearly the same red color as the Red Cranberry Pole Bean, although a shade brighter. As with all cutshorts, the seed is small. You can cook the bean like a red mung bean, but Southerners have preferred to use it with rice and okra dishes. Georg von Martens called them Eckbohnen (beans with “square corners”), and he recognized several sub-varieties. It closely resembled a French variety sold in the 1860s by the Paris seed firm of Beaurieux under the name haricot rouge de Chartres. In 1858 von Martens acquired two varieties of red cutshort bean from Russia, one by way of the seed firm of Rampon in Lyon, and another from the Russian city of Aigur on the Amur River along the Manchurian border. The Rampon variety failed, but the latter variety, which had been bred for northern conditions, produced a small crop of beans in von Martens’s German garden. But cutshorts are long-season beans that do far better in southern latitudes where the night air is warm. Beans of New York (Hedrick 1931) incorrectly assigned the name red cutshort to the Cornhill Bean, now known as the Amish Nuttle Bean.
12. ‘Egg’ Bean or ‘All-in-One’ Bean: In the German Rhineland there are several varieties of this bush bean with egg-shaped seeds, most of which are mentioned by C. A. Fingerhuth in his 1835 study of the agricultural botany of the lower Rhine. The pale-yellow-seeded variety was known in France as the haricot de Sainte Hélène, but most of the others were simply called Canada Beans (haricots du Canada). The light brown variety is known in the U.S. by several names, including Dutch Caseknife and Fisher Bean. It is not a true caseknife type, but it is the same as the Eierbohn of von Martens (1869) or more commonly, the Einbohn, or All-in-One Bean. The origin of this bean is likely eastern North America, because it was known in its original form to a number of Algonquian peoples. It may be related to the Turtle Bean of the Unami-speaking Delawares. It was cultivated among the Pennsylvania Dutch and is now offered by the Landis Valley Heirloom Seed Project as the Fisher Bean, after the family that preserved it. It has an excellent meaty flavor and holds its shape well when baked. In fact all of the beans of this type were great favorites with the French for cassoulets and similar recipes.
13. ‘Ice’ Bean or ‘Crystal White Wax’ Bean: Dutch plant breeders hybridized the Ice Bean, and the English first developed it as a forcing bean for hothouses. Italian horticulturist Achille Bruni reported that several forms of this bean existed in southern Italy long before 1845. The French, who once used the bean extensively as a garnish, lumped it together with similar varieties under the generic name haricot princesse. The pods were gently poached in white wine and brought to the table in bundles tied with chives. The miniature pods are a cool, silvery green color that looks misted or frosted (hence the name). The pods retain this coloration after cooking, especially if they are steamed. The dry bean is small and white and can be cooked like barley.
14. ‘Indiana Wild Goose’ Bean: This bean of unknown origin grows well in all parts of the U.S., from Washington State to Ohio and New Hampshire.At first, the ripe bean is flesh colored, then it turns to khaki. The bean has a rich, nutty flavor.
15. ‘Mostoller Wild Goose’ Bean: The Mostoller family’s story about the bean connects it to Civil War veteran John W. Mostoller, who supposedly discovered the beans in the craw of a wild goose. The beans were planted in 1866 and then preserved by the family as an heirloom vegetable ever since. Seeds found in the craw of a goose is a common in American horticultural literature, and is often folkloric. The problem with the story of the Mostoller Wild Goose bean is that the goose must have flown a long distance; there is a family of beans from northern Italy, the Porcelain Bean among them, to which this goose bean belongs. Furthermore, it is not a bean recognized by Georg von Martens, which would suggest that the variety and all of its Italian relatives developed after 1870. This includes the Snowcap Bean, which is identical to the Mostoller bean, except for slightly different coloring (purples instead of browns). The history of this bean, as related by a member of the Mostoller family, appeared in the Somerset Democrat (Somerset, Pennsylvania) on December 9, 1925. The story was reprinted in the 1984 Fall Harvest Edition (1984) of Seed Savers Exchange. The bean is excellent baked and is delicious in soups.
16. ‘Low’s Champion’ Bean: This popular New England bush bean was introduced in 1884 by the Aaron Low Seed Company of Boston. The American Garden (1889) suggested that the bean was an entirely new variety created, as Low himself claimed, by crossing a wax bean with a “green bean.” Later tests revealed that it was merely an old strain of the Dwarf Cranberry Bean under a new name. It’s still very popular and flavorful as both as a shelling bean and as a snap bean.

Heirloom beans can:

1. Give you energy while stabilizing your blood sugar. Heirloom beans provide steady, slow-burning energy, and their high fiber content prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after a meal. Phosphorus in heirloom beans helps you efficiently use carbohydrates and fats. Thiamine in heirloom beans maintains your energy supplies and coordinates the activity of nerves and muscles. Magnesium helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, helps regulate blood sugar levels, and is involved in energy metabolism and protein synthesis. The iron in heirloom beans is an integral component of hemoglobin, which transports oxygen from your lungs to all body cells, and is also part of key enzyme systems for energy production and metabolism. The vitamin B6 in heirloom beans supports a wide range of activities in your nervous system and promotes proper breakdown of sugars and starches. Hemoglobin synthesis also relies on the copper in heirloom beans; without it, your red blood cells cannot properly use iron. Saponins in heirloom beans lower blood glucose responses. Kaempferol in heirloom beans has antidiabetic activities.
2. Build strong, flexible bodies. A cup of heirloom beans provides nearly 1/3 of the Daily Value for protein. Phosphorus in heirloom beans helps in the formation of bones and teeth, synthesis of protein, and muscle contraction. Magnesium helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function and keeps bones strong. Copper is also necessary for the activity of lysyl oxidase, an enzyme involved in cross-linking collagen and elastin, both of which provide strength and flexibility in blood vessels, bones, and joints. Saponins in heirloom beans stimulate your immune system by increasing the production of antibodies, fight bacterial and fungal infections, reduce inflammation, prevent dental cavities, protect against bone loss, and increase the effectiveness of certain vaccines. Kaempferol in heirloom beans has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, neuroprotective, anti-osteoporotic, antiestrogenic, anxiolytic, analgesic, and antiallergic activities.
3. Promote cardiovascular health. The folate in heirloom beans help lower levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that is an intermediate product in an important metabolic cycle. Elevated blood levels of homocysteine are a risk factor for heart attack, stroke, or peripheral vascular disease. The soluble fiber in heirloom beans lowers your cholesterol levels by binding with bile, which contains cholesterol, and carrying it out of your body. Phosphorus in heirloom beans helps maintain a steady heartbeat. Thiamine in heirloom beans also supports proper heart function. The magnesium in heirloom beans acts as a calcium channel blocker, which relaxes veins and arteries, reducing blood pressure and improving the flow of blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout your body. The potassium in heirloom beans is essential for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function. Saponins in heirloom beans lower blood cholesterol and decrease risk of cardiovascular disease. Kaempferol in heirloom beans seems to prevent arteriosclerosis by inhibiting the oxidation of low density lipoprotein and the formation of platelets in the blood.
4. Promote digestive health. The insoluble fiber in heirloom beans not only helps to increase stool bulk and prevent constipation, but also helps prevent digestive disorders like irritable bowel syndrome and diverticulosis.
5. Fight free radicals. Heirloom beans are a very good source of manganese and a good source of copper, two trace minerals that are essential cofactors of a key antioxidant enzyme called superoxide dismutase, which disarms free radicals produced within your mitochondria (the energy production factories within your cells). Saponins in heirloom beans prevent cancer cells from growing and mutating, neutralize free radicals to prevent disease. Kaempferol in heirloom beans is a strong antioxidant that helps to prevent oxidative damage of your cells, lipids, and DNA, and acts as a chemopreventive agent, which means that it inhibits the formation of cancer cells.
6. Maintain your brain function. The thiamine in heirloom beans is critical for brain cell and cognitive function. This is because thiamine is needed for the synthesis of acetyl choline, the important neurotransmitter essential for memory and whose lack has been found to be a significant contributing factor in age-related impairment in mental function (senility) and Alzheimer’s disease.

Nutrients in 1 Cup Cooked Yellow Beans

Nutrient	Amount	Daily Value
fiber	18.4 g	74%
manganese	0.8 mg	40%
folate	143 µg	36%
magnesium	131 mg	33%
protein	16.2 g	32%
phosphorus	324 mg	32%
iron	4.4 mg	24%
thiamine	0.3 mg	22%
potassium	575 mg	16%
copper	0.3 mg	16%
carbohydrates	44.7 g	15%
zinc	1.9 mg	13%
Calories	255	13%
vitamin B6	0.2 mg	11%
calcium	110 mg	11%
riboflavin	0.2 mg	11%
niacin	1.3 mg	6%
vitamin C	3.2 mg	5%
pantothenic acid	0.4 mg	4%
fat	1.9 g	3%
sodium	8.9 mg	0.37%
cholesterol	0 mg	0%

Dried heirloom beans are generally available online, and some varieties may be available packaged in stores or in bulk bins. Make sure there’s no evidence of moisture or insect damage and that beans are whole and not cracked. If buying in bulk, make sure that the bins are covered and the store has a good product turnover rate to ensure maximum freshness.

Store dried heirloom beans in an airtight container in a cool, dry, and dark place where they will keep for up to 12 months. If you purchase heirloom beans at different times, store them separately; they may feature varying stages of dryness and therefore will require different cooking times. Cooked heirloom beans will keep fresh in a covered container in the refrigerator for about three days.

Before washing dried heirloom beans, spread them on a light-colored plate or cooking surface to check for small stones, debris, or damaged beans. Then, place the beans in a strainer, and rinse them thoroughly under cool running water.

Note that most of the phosphorus in heirloom beans is in a storage form of phosphate called phytic acid or phytate. Seeds are how most plants reproduce. When they are eaten by animals, it is beneficial to the survival of their species if they can pass through the animal’s digestive system intact to be deposited, encased in fertilizer, elsewhere. In order for the plant to reproduce, it’s necessary that the seed pass through the digestive tract whole (undigested). Many plant seeds have developed defense mechanisms to make them more difficult to digest, including enzyme inhibitors that can interfere with digestion and other natural substances that block nutrient absorption. Phytic acid prevents premature germination and stores nutrients for plant growth. Unfortunately, it also reduces the absorption of the important minerals calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc, and reduces the digestibility of protein. This applies not only to the minerals and protein in the food containing the phytic acid, but also the food that you eat with it. Over time, these phytates can lead to mineral deficiencies, allergies, and irritation of the intestinal tract. Only about 50% of the phosphorus from phytate is available to humans because we lack phytase, the enzyme that liberates phosphorus from phytate.

Traditionally, humans soaked, sprouted,  or fermented beans before eating them, processes that neutralizes phytates and enzyme inhibitors so that all the nutrients are more available.

When a plant seed undergoes germination, changes occur that provide the growing plant with needed nutrients. These changes include the breakdown of phytic acid, the inactivation of protease inhibitors, and the increased availability of vitamins and minerals, all of which increase the nutritional value of the seed and improve its digestibility. In nature, germination typically occurs when a plant seed encounters conditions that are favorable for growth, and that typically involves water. You can easily initiate the germination of heirloom beans by soaking them in 2-3 cups of water per cup of beans. Soaking reduces phytic acid in about 12 hours. Soaking can also increase the content of some vitamins and help break down complex carbohydrates such as raffinose-type oligosaccharides (sugars associated with causing flatulence). Cooking also deactivates natural plant toxins that may still exist after soaking.

To prevent heirloom beans from absorbing chemicals from the water or container that they’re soaking in, consider using a glass or ceramic container and filtered water. It may also be beneficial to use lukewarm water and increase its acidity with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice or vinegar. Soak heirloom beans for 12 to 24 hours in water with 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice. Rinse well and cook as usual in 2-3 cups of fresh water per cup of dried beans.

Soaking seeds is easy; it just takes takes a little discipline. In the evening, put your heirloom beans in a bowl and cover them with filtered water. By the next day, the beans are ready to cook.

You can cook heirloom beans either on the stove top or in a pressure cooker or slow cooker. For the stove top method, add three cups of fresh water for each cup of dried beans. The liquid should be about one to two inches above the top of the beans. Bring the beans to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, partially covering the pot. If any foam develops, simply skim it off during the simmering process. Heirloom beans generally take about one to one and one-half hours to become tender using this method.

You can also cook heirloom beans in a pressure cooker, where they take about one-half hour to prepare, or in a slow cooker, where they take about six to nine hours on high.

Regardless of cooking method, do not add any salt or acid (like tomatoes) until after beans have been cooked; adding them earlier will make the beans tough and greatly increase the cooking time. To aid in digestion, you can add to your cooking beans a four-inch strip of the sea vegetable kombu, available dried in the Asian specialty section of grocery stores. Also try adding a teaspoon of epazote per pound of beans. Epazote is a traditional herb of central America that is believed to help with digestion.

Some serving ideas:

• Use heirloom beans in chili
• Blend together cooked heirloom beans with sage, oregano, garlic, and black pepper for a spread that can be used as a crudité dip or sandwich filling
• Layer cooked heirloom beans, chopped tomatoes, onions, and shredded vegan cheese on a tortilla, broil in the oven until hot and cheese melts, and top with chopped avocado and cilantro
• Add heirloom beans to vegetable soups
• Heat heirloom beans together with cooked black rice or brown rice, add cooked chopped vegetables such as carrots, zucchini, and tomatoes, and season to taste
• Try seasoning heirloom beans with chile peppers, cilantro, cumin, epazote, garlic, oregano, parsley, savory, or thyme

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This blog uses the latest nutritional data available from the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), and the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration), as well as nutritional data provided by food growers and manufacturers about their products. We believe the information on this blog to be accurate. However, we are not responsible for typographical or other errors. Nutrition information for recipes is calculated by Living Cookbook based on the ingredients in each recipe based on statistical averages. Nutrition may vary based on methods of preparation, origin and freshness of ingredients, and other factors.

This blog is not a substitute for the services of a trained health professional. Although we provide nutritional information, the information on this blog is for informational purposes only. No information offered by or through this blog shall be construed as or understood to be medical advice or care. None of the information on this blog should be used to diagnose or treat any health problem or disease. Consult with a health care provider before taking any product or using any information on this blog. Please discuss any concerns with your health care provider.