F.A. Farm

Yesterday I had a hankering for some fagioli, so I pulled out a quart of my home-grown cannelinis to soak. I didn't have time to make it last night, so I left them in the refrigerator overnight. I then poured off the soaking water and added fresh water. They cooked up fast and made a wonderful dish, but I discovered something new. After they were fully cooked, I added a half cup of olive oil, a tablespoon of salt and simmered them for 30 minutes. [The original recipe calls for 2 cups shelled beans and the quart yielded over 8 cups of soaked beans, so I quadrupled the original recipe but cut back on the salt by one-fourth.] I then drained the beans and reserved the liquid as I prepared the rest of the dish. My recipe calls for only adding enough of the reserved liquid to keep the final dish from drying out, so the liquid would normally be thrown out. However, I tasted the drained bean broth and it was quite delicious! So I just drank it. This was quite a revelation. It was almost "meaty" in its taste and quite filling. The upshot is that this could be a new way to get the essential bean nutrients AND you still have the beans for your regular dish. I am going to try this with the other beans I grow and a couple of bean varieties from the regular food store. This should be a fun experiment.