No matter what sort of diet you’re on, most people will tell you that there’s nothing like a good organic bean. Even people on Keto diets love having a bean dish on their carb cheat day. The reasons are simple, too, as the best thing about a bean is that there’s nothing at all complicated about it. Beans pack a lot of fibre, protein, iron, magnesium, and a lot of other essential nutrients. They’re something of a superfood, and in many diets, they’re a great way to replace things like meats and grains without losing any of those essential nutrients your body needs to thrive. And just to be clear, beans are also very tasty, especially making a big batch of bean medley!
Whether you want to make a medley, a standalone dish, or any other application, there are sites out there like Grainworks.com where you can buy beans online that are 100% organic, fresh, nutritious, and always delicious. Though what many people find is that the list of beans is a lot longer than the ones they’ve seen at a grocery store. Here are ten of the most popular organic beans you can pick up.
Top 10 Organic Beans You Can Buy Online
1: Adzuki Beans
Small, sweet and packing a big punch of nutty flavour, these are Japanese beans that date back in Asia thousands of years. They’re a low-calorie bean that provides you with a big hit of antioxidants and a lot of essential goodness like iron, zinc, potassium, and more. They’re a rather firm bean, even when fully cooked, and they work great in a lot of rice dishes.
2: Baby Lima Beans
A dwarf variety of the classic Lima bean, baby Limas are flat and thin and cook very quickly. They’re also a lot more delicate than normal-sized Lima beans and a lot of other beans in general. They’re sweet while being a little savoury at the same time, and they go famously in bean medleys. They also work well in soups and stews or even as a standalone dish with a little butter, salt and pepper. They’re a go-to bean for all bean lovers.
3: Black Eyed Beans
The black-eyed bean, most commonly referred to as black-eyed pea, is a North African variety of bean that really became famous in the southern American states in centuries past. These beans are known to be very easy to cook and awfully forgiving due to the fact that they easily absorb outside flavours. These are a very low-calorie bean yet still pack a ton of potassium and magnesium. They’re very naturally sweet yet subtle in their flavour.
4: Black Lentils
A lot of people may think that lentils aren’t beans, but they’re classified as beans because they’re both legumes. Though a black lentil certainly doesn’t resemble the typical bean, nor does it taste like the typical bean. To be so small, it packs a pretty big nutty flavour and almost has a wheat-like savoriness to it. This makes the black lentil the perfect sort of bean to pick up to throw in a medley pot, to give yourself some serious contrast in flavour, texture and appearance.
5: Cannellini Beans
Best known for being one of the most popular beans in all of Italy, cannellini beans are white beans that are firm in texture and have a relatively mild flavour. As the Italians have shown over many centuries, these beans work the best when they’re mixed into a different sort of dish. In Italy, the number-one dish is minestrone. Though per the theme of this article, you might be able to imagine them brightening up a big pot of bean medley that you’re making. These are also very nutritious beans that provide you with a lot of antioxidants and vitamins.
6: Cranberry Beans
As you will undoubtedly be able to tell when you see these beans, the cranberry bean gets its name due to the way it looks. It very closely resembles a cranberry. If you want to buy beans online for a medley or any other sort of application, this is a very delicate, tasty bean that will give you a ton of flavour without a lot of work. These are the beans that a lot of people use in Mexico to make refried beans, and we all know how tasty they are. The texture here is what really sets these beans apart.
7: Fava Beans
Can you actually even have a bean medley without a classic fava bean? It might be against the law in some households! This is an Italian bean that’s flat and oval and pretty easy to cook. They’re a traditional bean that should be soaked first, but they don’t take long at all to cook, and they get very soft and delicate, yet retain their texture and give off an earthy, hearty flavour that goes great with a lot of different cooking applications.
8: Garbanzo Beans
A very popular bean, the garbanzo bean is one you may have had before without even realizing it. That’s because it’s also called a chickpea, and these things are everywhere. They have a very nutty flavour but are perhaps most famously known for having a firm texture. No matter how long you cook them, they’re going to remain firm, which makes them very forgiving, but also very versatile, which is why they’re also the go-to bean to blend up for hummus.
9: Great Northern Beans
You have probably seen these beans in cans at your local grocery store, but it’s a different experience entirely to get them fresh and to cook them at home. These are large white beans that have a good texture and a mild earthy flavour. They go great in any sort of bean salad or medley you’re preparing, and they work well in any sort of application that requires beans.
10: Mung Beans
For the last bean, let’s get a little exotic here with a bean many of you may have never heard of. The mung bean is actually thousands of years old, though they were most commonly used in Asian cuisine for most of recorded history, so they’re not insanely popular in the Americas. That is, until different organic sites started popping up and offering them. They’re mild and nutty and pack a lot of flavour.
You don’t have to make a bean medley with these ten bean varieties, but it sure would be tasty! Just remember that all of these beans are organic, nutritious, and certainly very delicious.