non-windy beans

[diane]

I've just read the website of a plant breeder, one of whose interests is breeding easily-digested beans.
He had one stint in Ghana to develop beans that could be used as high protein baby food.

sites.google.com/site/colinleakey/topics/plant-breeding/3-coscorons

He developed Prim, which at one time was sold by Cook's Garden, but isn't currently listed by them.

There are easily digested beans in Chile - Coscorrones, Mantecas - but I can't find a source for them.
I did not manage to buy any vegetable seeds when I was in Chile one springtime, and now when I
search for Chilean seed companies, all I can find online are huge enterprises that contract to grow
seeds for northern hemisphere seed sellers.

One of Leakey's beans that I would like to grow is PlusGus. Tex Frazier of Oregon State U created
a bush romano and gave some seeds to Leakey to incorporate in his line. He produced Zillis and Bina.
The F2 of their crossing was immensely diverse. PlusGus was bought by Royal Sluis, but it was
dropped when Royal Sluis was bought out by a U.S. firm.

Does anyone know where any of these beans can be acquired? I've looked on Native Seeds Search but
they don't list anything from south of Central America.

[imgrimmer]

interesting. sadly there is no contact information on his site. I would say the easiest way is to ask Colin Leakey.
Do you have more information about Coscorron beans?

[DarJones]

You need better google fu. Let me see what I can dig out. Put this into google advanced search. frijoles seed mantecas site:.cl

www.chileanjar.cl/files/V46I2A20_es.pdf

scielo-test.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0365-28072006000400011&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es

[diane]

The scientists have been collecting landraces and breeding. The small farms are growing traditional beans which
are traded between farmers.

What is absent is a seed industry to provide seeds to home gardeners. But maybe that is the main lack: no home
gardeners?

I have written to Chileflora which collects and sells seeds of native plants to ask if they could also supply some beans.

[12540dumont]

Try CIGAR.

Barring that, remember that Tierra del Fuego bean is from there.

That said, I did a ton of research on this exact topic. The fart factor is due to oligosaccharides. This is very hard for the gut to digest. So some simple ways to make it easier. Take a probiotic. Or make your own Lacto-fermented salsa to go with your beans.

When preparing beans:

Soak them AT LEAST 24-36 hours. Not just overnight. Change the water at least 3x. Add a strip of KOMBO to soak with them. This sea vegetable helps break down the oligosaccharides which turn into methane, carbon dioxide, and anaerobic bacteria. Each type of legume needs it's own pH. (The Weston Price Article will help with that). Always toss the soaking water, give them a good rinse and cook in fresh water.

Cook them long and slow...but not in a slow cooker, unless your planning on poisoning someone. And cook them in your own stock.

My family says when we eat out beans, they always fart more than they do when we have them at home. So, stay away from tinned beans

I won't give you all the technical articles I've read, because ONLY a beaniac would care.

www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/putting-the-polish-on-those-humble-beans/ But this is a good article on beans and why more folks should eat them.

The Borlotto Lamon Bean (which looks exactly like a Tierra del Fuego Bean) has the highest amount of protein I've found in a bean. About twice that of an ordinary pinto.

[diane]

How did you determine the protein content?

[12540dumont]

On the back of the package for store bought beans the protein content is indicated.

For the Italian Beans, I relied on the tests that the Instituo di Genitica Vegetale did in Italy. However, you can get those tests done at any lab that does nutrition testing....it's not cheap and many of these labs don't test for oligosaccharides. But, it can be done