Rancho Gordo beans

I never knew I could feel so passionately about beans.

Rancho Gordo beans are the best I have ever eaten. Yes, I adore the story of how Steve Sando started saving heirloom varieties of beans from New Mexico and Central America, growing them before they died out entirely. And I feel grateful for the tried and true recipes featured on their website, which have always worked for me. (Our friend Nina created a mole sauce from a Rancho Gordo recipe, and we all licked our lips as we ate the chicken she had barbequed with it.) And in the end, all those beans are so pretty.

But really, what matters to me most? All that work and passion, the dedication and experimentation has produced some of the best beans I have ever tasted. Canned beans will never be the same, like a shadow self imagined instead of a real, imperfect person standing before us. Try some, and you’ll see.

Last month, I ordered the European sampler for our house. The Borlotti and Scarlet Runner beans are so pretty in the jars I arranged on the shelves that I’m tempted just to save them.

But when Rancho Gordo beans taste this good, I can guarantee you those jars will be empty soon.