Beans, beans are good for your heart…

Beans and other legumes have never been hotter, even though 2016 was officially the International Year of the Pulses (aka legumes). Whether it’s viral “dense bean salad” videos, articles on easy ways to use beans and how to fall in love with them, or cookbooks devoted to the subject, the once-humble bean has been getting a glow up. As a long-time bean aficionado, I say this fanfare is much overdue. Hardly any other food is as versatile (I will concede that the egg probably edges out beans in that regard), nutritious, or has as much easily-obtained variety.

Turning to recent bean cookbooks, there are several outstanding tomes that showcase the range and variety of beans. The recently released book from Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo fame, The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen, is an excellent primer on heirloom bean varieties with a guide to 50 different kinds. Whereas you might see only a handful of bean varieties in a supermarket, specialty purveyors like Rancho Gordo offer dozens of options, and if you thought beans were boring, a gander at the striking variegations in colors and patterns like those in Jacob’s Cattle, Four Corners, Anasazi, and Good Mother Stallard will quickly change your mind. The Bean Book also provides recipes for everything from appetizers to salads to hearty main dishes and even a couple of desserts.

Greens & Beans: Green Cuisine with Peas, Lentils, and Beans by Anne-Katrin Weber, released this August, is one of the UK’s contributions to the current bean craze. Both this and The Bean Book provide helpful tips on soaking, cooking methods, and cultivation so you can grow your own beans. Both books have EYBD Previews so you can try a few recipes before committing to purchase them.

Three other notable cookbooks focusing on this subject are 2023’s Bold Beans by Amelia Christie-Miller; 2021’s Grist by Abra Berens, and Joe Yonan’s 2020 missive Cool Beans. All of these books enjoy high ratings among EYB Members. For the adventurous, Baking with Beans by Lina Wallentinson showcases beans as the star in a variety of baked goods. Do you have a favorite bean book?