Feeling like an idiot

[helwen]

I've been slowly reading through _Earth Magic_, by Frances Hitching (1976). It's on megaliths, and was pretty groundbreaking, as he did research on the archaeology, the history of what people thought they were -- both scientifically and otherwise, etc. Info about the various early cultures gets mentioned, as part of showing how advanced - or not - a people were. One thing I came across today was what is now called "multi use conservation".

He quotes from Peter Farb's book _Man's Rise to Civilization_:

"The Eastern Archaic peoples used 275 species of plants for medicine; 130 for food, 31 as magical charms, 27 for smoking, 25 for dyes, 18 in beverages and for flavoring, and 52 others for various purposes. No animal or any particular group of animals was singled out for exploitation..."

So, by adapting to their surroundings and being open to using/consuming a wide variety of plants and animals, they didn't tax their environment. Pretty cool, huh?

So, here's where I feel like an idiot. I've been planning on growing more veggies and stuff this summer, canning some of the extra for sure, and maybe freezing stuff if we can get an energy star freezer for not too much, and drying apples, and other things from the farmers markets (since I don't have an apricot tree and no place to put one here anyway).

Not once have I considered growing and drying peas or beans of any type. They're really quite a logical thing to grow and store. They store more compactly than canning or freezing does, and don't need refrigeration (just need to be kept dry). So why didn't I consider them? Because I don't know how to cook with dried peas, beans, lentils, etc. *sigh*

So, I guess I need to poke around cookbooks and stuff, and find out how to cook the darn things... I know I like lentil soup, at least. The rest of it.... I have no idea if I'll like them or not. But variety is a good thing, better for one's diet and better for the environment, so I'll at least try it. Oy.

Comments

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Definitely learn to cook with them before growing them. Having a nice crop of pinto beans is useless if you can't stand the way they taste...:)

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Too true! Although I suppose I could always stuff rats with them... :D

[math5.livejournal.com]

If you want to practice cooking with them you can find dried beans/lentils/peas quite cheap in stores that sell hispanic food products. The lentils I generally get from an Indian food store if I need a lot though. Philadelphia is pretty convenient for that :)

[math5.livejournal.com]

Forgot: I've done the drying of beans when I was in France, very easy.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Cool! I have a book or two on some of this, but it will all be brand new to me.

So far my experience with dried legumes has been lentils that sit on my shelf while I look at them and think I don't have time to cook them now (just found out last night that they don't need to be soaked like other beans), and buying black-eyed peas for stuffing the juggling rats and sheep with. We have a pretty healthy Hispanic population here in Holyoke, so no problem with buying at least some dried stuff at the local Stop&Shop. And I imagine Whole Foods carries a lot of them as well.

I will be looking for recipes, first, so I know what kinds I want to buy to try out. I've been thinking, for instance, that I'd like to make my own chili. The commercial stuff has way too much salt in it for fitzw to have on a regular basis, or really any person who wants to stay healthy. Plus whatever other junk they throw into processed foods these days.

I also intend to look up how to make white sauces, so that I can make tuna casseroles without buying the creamed soup.

[beard5.livejournal.com]

For good methods of cooking with beans, do check out Laurel's Kitchen (although, just typing that out, I giggled at the title) lots of great tips on how to work beans in to everyday cooking, etc.

If you don't wish to pick up a copy, I've got one that I'm more than willing to lend out (if it comes back, great, if not, I won't be devestated. I've pretty well absorbed all the recipes)

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I will! And I'll look through some of my existing cookbooks as well... having never dared to cook with dried beans, I've never looked to see if there's anything on them on my shelves. I think since my mother never cooked with them, I never really thought of them as accessible. Odd, I suppose, but there it is.

[joyeuse60.livejournal.com]

Also consider making up packages of dried peas, various dried beans and barley to use as a soup mixture.... add to soup at the beginning so that they have lots of time to soak up fluids, plump up and then add their own flavour to whatever soup ... beef, chicken and so on... you are making. Reduces space usage in your cupboard and allows you to make fairly fast and easy hearty soups.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

I thought beans had to soak overnight? Or would it simply add to the cooking time for the soup? You can probably tell that I don't make soup from scratch very often either.

I used to make a pretty good chicken soup. In fact I bought a whole chicken last week (currently frozen), which I may take apart the way I used to in college. Limbs for cooking whole, then I bone the rest for stir fry, and the remainder goes in the pot to make stock. Cook it for a while, take out the bones, then add in carrots, onions, celery, sometimes potatoes, and of course a bit of seasoning. Once in a while I'd add rice, instead of potatoes.

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

Cowpeas don't need to be soaked either.
If you have a pressure cooker, you can pressure cook beans instead of pre-soaking them.

There are some yummy period recipes for chickpeas.

I'd suggest soaking your beans in a crockpot and then turning it on to cook the beans. :)

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Hmm, don't have a pressure cooker, but I do have a crockpot :)

Cowpeas? Oh look, a whole new world to do research on!