A few years ago, I bought some Orca beans from the CSA in Wenatchee, WA.  Then they just sat in my pantry…

Finally I decided to use them.  When they cooked up, the water turned black and the beans turned brown!  I found out that Orca beans are an heirloom variety from Mexico, rare in the U.S.  (No wonder they remind me of pinto beans).

Purcell Mountain Farms’ website has a fascinating, long list of beans for purchase.  There are some really interesting names on that list!  Eye of the Goat Beans, Marrow Beans, Tongues of Fire Beans…these sound exactly like what a vegan witch would add to her cauldron of animal-free stew.  Ah, the abundance!  (Where do you get your protein?)

I didn’t make soup or stew.  I decided to make up a triple batch of hummus using my Orca beans instead of garbanzo beans.  Two cups dry beans yielded about 3 pints cooked.

To make 1 batch of hummus, puree:

1 pint cooked beans
Juice of 1 lemon
2 T tahini (sesame butter)
1 T olive oil
2 minced cloves garlic
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t coriander
1/4 t turmeric
1-2 T water (if needed to thin)

Portion and freeze in 1/2 to 1 cup canning jars.
Don’t let your freezer run out of hummus!