Eat Like You’re In Tuscany

Many of us think only of beans for winter dishes, like in soups and stews. But beans are wonderful—added to green salads or pasta salads. Canned beans can be easily substituted for home-cooked beans and are convenient for quick meals. Did you know canned beans have a shelf life of 2-3 years!

In Italy, beans are often used in pasta dishes, salads, mashed and spread on bruschetta toast, in soups and thicker stews. They are also enjoyed as side dishes. Grown throughout the country, especially in Tuscany, legumes are the stars of many regional dishes. Packed with protein and soluble fiber, they are both delicious and satisfying. Dried beans (fagioli secchi’) include beans, peas and lentils.

Beans for Every Region

Different kinds of beans are grown through Italy and each region has their favorite. Barlotti or cranberry beans are preferred in Veneto (region near Venice) and are usually used in soup. The region of Tuscany is famous for bean production with cannellini beans being the most popular. In fact, the Tuscans eat so many beans that they are known as mangiafagioli, or bean-eaters.

In central Italy, legumes often compete with vegetables in antipasto as well as pasta and in main dishes. In this region, you can find cannellini as well as lentils. In Abruzzi, Molise and Puglia, chickpeas (garbanzos) are the favorite. In this region, beans are added to thick soups and pastas, pureed to be served with vegetables, or cooked with a zesty sauce. In Basilicata and Calabria, legumes are usu-ally preferred fresh and raw. Fava beans, picked fresh from a garden and shelled, are a delicacy. Fresh or dried fava beans are a staple of Abruzzo, Puglia, Campania as well as Sicily. Lentils, or lenticchie, are eaten all across Italy.

Cannellini Beans

These beans have spread from the kitchens of Tuscany to become a favorite among all Italians. Cannellini beans are large, creamy white in color, mild in flavor, and have a traditional kidney shape. They have a relatively thin skin and tender insides. They hold their shape well and are one of the best white beans for salads and soups. Cannellini beans are related to kidney beans, great northern, and navy beans.

Barlotti Beans

This is one of the best known and most popular beans in central and northern Italy. During the summer and early autumn, you may find fresh barlotti (also called cranberry beans), sometimes still in the pod. The pod of the fresh bean is yellow in color with bright green and red speckles, while the bean itself is more solidly red or white with red specks. But cranberry beans are most often used in their dried form. The cooked beans have a velvety texture with a little more nutty, sweet flavor than most beans. Cranberry or barlotti are most often used the famous northern Italian soup, pasta e fagioli.

Cece Beans

Also known as chickpeas, cece beans are the most widely eaten bean in the world and have been adopted in every region in Italy. Cece beans have a round shape and are beige in color. They have a firm texture and with a flavor somewhere between chestnuts and walnuts. Ceces can be cooked or eaten cold in salads, cooked in soups and stews, added to pasta, and ground into flour. They are also used in making a meatless patty or burger. Pasta e ceci is a dish of chickpeas and pasta enjoyed in Puglia, Piedmont and Lombardy.

Fava Beans

Fava beans were once the only beans eaten in Italy, and then mostly by peasants.  Now the fava bean is eaten and cultivated all over Italy, although the main area of growth is in the warmer south.  Fava beans are eaten raw in the springtime when they are young and tender.  Otherwise both fresh and dry beans are cooked.  The fresh variety takes only 10 minutes to cook, and less if you discard the tough outer skin.  When buying fresh fava beans check that the pod is shiny and firm and that the beans inside are tightly packed.

Lentil Beans

Lentils are legumes along with other types of beans. They are only available dried; they are not used fresh. Canned lentils are also available, but it is just as easy to cook your own. Lentil colors range from yellow to red-orange to green, brown and black. Lentils also vary in size. Compared to other kinds of beans, lentils are very quick and easy to prepare. Unlike dried peas and beans, there is no need to soak them. Lentils require a cooking time of 10-40 minutes, depending on the variety.

How Much Beans Should You Cook?

Since dried beans swell 2-3 times their size as they cook, here is a general guide to determining dried to cooked measurements:

• 1 cup dried beans = 2 1/2 cups cooked beans
• 1 pound package of beans = 2 cups dry or 5-6 cups of cooked beans
• 15 ounces (drained) beans = 1 2/3 cups of cooked beans

How Do You Cook Beans?

The easiest way is to use a slow cooker or an Insta-Pot. When cooking on the stove, presoak your beans 6 hours or overnight before cooking. This allows them to cook faster. You can also Quick-Soak them—put them in cold water, bring them gently to a boil, turn off the heat and allow them to sit 1-2 hours. Always discard the water in which the beans are soaked. Split peas and lentils don’t need to be soaked. This step also isn’t necessary when using a slow cooker or Insta-Pot.

Cover the soaked beans with water and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and allow to simmer for at least 1 hour. Beans are done when they can easily be mashed between 2 fingers or with a fork. Add salt toward the end of cooking time.