June 5-7, 2023 – To bean or not to bean, that is the question….

RETURNING CHUBEZA CARTONS

 

As we’ve mentioned, we reuse the Chubeza cartons in which your veggies are packed. If the boxes are in good condition, we would be very happy and grateful if you could leave the flat, empty carton outside your door on Delivery Day for our deliverymen to collect. We will then use this box to pack veggies for the next family…

Our delivery crew would greatly appreciate if you open the tape and flatten the empty cartons you leave for us. This will not only make it easier for you to store the boxes, but also easier for the crew to collect.

Here’s a video clip on How to Flatten the Chubeza Box:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqyLdjiKCzY

Thank you!

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In the very near future, your Chubeza Box will completely discard its winter facade. We bid farewell to the cauliflower and broccoli a good while ago; the kohlrabi and fennel are also history, and the last of the winter veggies – the beets, turnips and cabbage – are taking their final bow this week. In place of the winter veggies, your box will now begin to brim with the sun and heat of spring and summer: zucchini, garlic, pumpkins, melons, fakus, spring potatoes and cherry tomatoes.

Over the coming weeks, we look forward to telling you a bit about the new veggie friends in the offing, beginning this week with — the fresh beans, on their crunchy pods, green and flat, or yellow and cylindrical. The fresh bean is unique from the other summer veggies because like the fakus, it appears now, at the height of spring, and will not stick around for the entire hot, steaming season. Because beans are a crop that thrive on moderation.   

The remainder of their Legume family relatives just love extremes. Fava and peas thrive on frigid cold weather, while soybeans and lubia (black-eyed peas) adore the scorching sun. The beans, however, seek weather that’s just warm enough and just ventilated enough – in essence, a transition-season climate. Which explains why beans are one of the only crops belonging to spring and autumn in our field, dropping in for a very short visit before the onerous summer heat prevails. This year’s spring has been ideal for the bean: overall moderate and gentle. A true field day for the bean!

This spring we seeded two types of beans: a thin, bright yellow bean called “Goldie,” and a flat, elegant green bean called “Rochelle.’ Both of this year’s beans are “bush varieties” (more on this later) which grow on low bushes and yield concentrated amounts of yummy, fresh pods.

When ancient sources from our region, the Mishna and the Talmud, mentioned the bean (shu’it), they were evidently referring to the black-eyed pea (lubia), which has been prevalent in the Middle East since way back when. In contrast, the common bean (or Phaseolous Vulgaris) originated in the tropical areas of the American continent, one of the “three sisters” of ancient American cuisine: corn, zucchini and beans. In those areas, peas were grown over 7,000 years ago, but until the discovery of America, no bean varieties were known in Europe.

Like the rest of the legumes, beans are an annual crop with butterfly-like flowers which become pods for the seeds to lie inside. There are many varieties of beans, which are divided into two categories, according to their role in the kitchen and in nutrition.

The first is the fresh bean, eaten in the pod young and green (or yellow, purple, spotted). Fresh varieties include cylinder-like pods, wide or flat, thick or thin, and more. The fresh beans are not yet ripe and not hardened, making them soft and readily edible raw or after a short blanching. These are also the varieties we grow in Chubeza.

The second variety is the dry bean, only harvested after the seeds are ripe, hard and full within the dry pod, which must be peeled in order to extract the beans for use. Dry beans also come in a variety of colors and sizes: white, black, red, spotted, pink, brown and others. This bean must be cooked well and should also be soaked in water prior to cooking to shorten the cooking time and ease digestion.

Various beans grow differently. Many are bush variants: short and compact, yielding within a relatively short time, and that’s it (like our thin yellow or green beans). Then there are the climbing types (like the Thai lubia), which must be trellised upright and which take their time yielding (like the Thai lubia in our field). The bean’s tendency to climb brought it much respect in ancient American farming, as one of the “Three Sisters.” Archeologists have frequently found ancient Peruvian and Mexican farming sites with remnants of bean seeds together with those of corn and squash. The bean was seeded together with the corn and squash, while the corn plants were used as trellising poles for the climbing bean. The squash covers the earth as a living mulch that serves to prevent weeds and water drainage, and the bean fixates nitrogen (see explanation below,) providing nutrients for both of her sisters:

3sisters

An interesting fact regarding the differences in growth of the two types of beans is that the climbing and bush species apparently developed separately and in parallel by different farmers in different areas. In Peru the cornfields were limited, making a climbing-specie an additional burden for local farmers needing to support the climbing plants. Thus, Peruvian farmers must have chosen to raise plants from seeds that grew in the form of a bush, and those were the species that developed there. The bushy species developed in Peru contain a gene that makes them grow in miniature form by limiting the number of branch segments, while turning the plant tissues (the branches and leaves) to reproductive tissues (flowers and pods). In contrast, in Mexico, the farmers chose to grow species that tended to climb, since the bean grew near the corn that was used as a natural trellising pole, saving extra work for the farmer. In contrast, in Mexico, the farmers chose to grow species that tended to crawl, since the bean grew near the corn that was used as a natural trellising pole, saving extra work for the farmer.

The climbing beanpole was immortalized by the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, the story of a poor boy who climbs a huge beanstalk that he grew from magic seeds, embarking on a search for his identity. Via the beanstalk, he finally finds happiness and wealth, and of course triumphs over evil. 

The bean is indeed magical in another sense: as a member of the legume family, it has many characteristics that help improve the earth. In a symbiotic process with the Resovia bacteria, it can fixate nitrogen from the atmosphere and store it in the earth in a form that is available to plants that grow simultaneously or afterwards. The bean’s long roots grasp the earth and assist in preventing erosion, a feature that makes it very easy to grow, as it will cling well to difficult and barren earth.

In South America these qualities make the local plant “worth its weight in gold.” The Mucuna bean is seeded in Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras and other places in small, local farms, on the slopes of rocky mountains as a “cover crop.” The plants are cut and left in place while still green, and the next crops (specifically corn), are planted in the organic matter. The result is a doubling and even tripling of the corn yield, and an improvement of the soil for years to come. Indeed, a magic bean!

Beans are high-nutrient vegetables. Dry beans are rich in protein stored within their pods, while the fresh, youthful beans contain a lot less protein, and thus, in nutritional terms are not considered “plant-based protein.” Not to worry – fresh beans have many other great virtues: an excellent source of vitamins C, K and manganese, they are rich in dietary fibers, potassium, folic acid and carotenoids (pro vitamin A.) In addition, fresh beans contain a good quantity of magnesium, copper, calcium, phosphorus, protein, omega 3 fatty acids and B vitamins. 

Beans can be – of course – cooked, steamed, roasted, pickled, added to pasta, rice, salad and any vegetable stir-fry to add taste, color and festivity to your meal. Bon appetite!

My we enjoy a fine, pleasant summery week!

 Alon, Bat Ami, Dror, Orin, Einat and the entire Chubeza team

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 WHAT’S IN THIS WEEK’S BOXES?   

Monday:  Lettuce, flat green beans or thin yellow beans/cherry tomatoes, squash+zucchini, beets, acorn squash/butternut squash, potatoes, parsley/coriander/basil, Swiss chard/kale/New Zealand spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, melon/fakus/onions.   

Large box, in addition: Slice of pumpkin/eggplant, carrots/turnips, leeks/garlic.

FRUIT BOXES: Peaches, avocados, bananas, apples/pears. Large box: All of the above + cherries/apricots.

Wednesday:  Lettuce, green or yellow beans, acorn squash/cherry tomatoes/eggplant, carrots/squash+zucchini/fakus, beets, potatoes, parsley/coriander, Swiss chard/New Zealand spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, melon/watermelon.   

Large box, in addition: Slice of pumpkin/butternut squash/sweet potato, leeks/garlic/onions, basil.

FRUIT BOXES: Peaches, avocados, bananas, apples/pears. Large box: All of the above + cherries/apricots.

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