CHRIS RUNDLE

IT’S TIME TO GET EXCITED ABOUT BEANS - THEY ARE SO MUCH MORE THAN FUEL, SAYS CHRIS RUNDLE

- 

Beans are cheap and nourishing, says Chris

YOU might find it something of a challenge to become excited about beans. I get that. I can understand it.

But let me tell you this: a few centuries ago, you wouldn't have been quite so blasé about them. You wouldn't have dismissed them as bland, boring, mundane, run-of-the-mill, average, uninspiring, unexciting or anything else the thesaurus might suggest.

You would, on the contrary, have been gathering them, cleaning them, drying them, storing them somewhere secure out of the reach of vermin, assessing their weight and calculating how long they would last you. In particular whether they would see you through the long, cold, damp winter until the first of the spring crops struggled their way up to the light.

Because beans, along with peas, lentils and all manner of other pulses were what kept the population alive before the days of canning, bottling and assorted other forms of preserving food.