Black turtle bean
The black turtle bean is a small, shiny black variety of the common bean, especially popular in Latin American cuisine. It is often called simply the black bean, although this can cause confusion with other uses of this phrase.
Black turtle beans are most commonly sold dried, in which state they keep almost indefinitely. (Nutritive value and flavor degrade as time passes, and cooking times lengthen, but the beans will never actually spoil in their dried state.) Dried black beans are always cooked in boiling liquid, often after having been soaked for several hours. While the soaking step is not necessary (contrary to popular belief), it shortens cooking time somewhat and tends to result in a more evenly textured pot of beans, and is therefore recommended. Black turtle beans take longer to cook than most pulses: cooking times vary from 50 minutes to two hours.
The black turtle bean has a dense, meaty texture and flavor reminiscent of mushrooms. (To this we may attribute its popularity in vegetarian dishes, most notably the Mexican-American black bean burrito.) It has also recently been reported to be an extremely good source of nutritional antioxidants.
The black turtle bean is considered the national bean of Brazil, where it is used in the national dish, feijoada completa. It is also a principal ingredient of moros y cristianos, served elsewhere in Latin America.
External links
Categories: Vegetables | Legumes