Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.
Here’s a world you didn’t know existed – jars of beans! And we don’t mean baked beans; no these Bold Beans Co beans come in huge 700 gram jars of all sorts of beans to add to recipes, make fajitas, create sauces with and even ear raw if you want to!
Why are beans becoming such an important piece of our diets nowadays? Along with the vegan and vegetarian update since lockdown, beans are the unsung heroes of farming. Did you know that legumes are natural fertilizers? The nitrogen nodules produced by the roots of beans actually put nutrients back into the soil without any work being put into them. This benefits future crops and other food being grown around them. Beans are also an easy, cheap source of protein and fibre plus they can keep you full for longer thereby making meals go further. The versatility of the bean means it can be added to lots of dishes, mashed up and used as a base or even turned into snacks.
The shear variety of beans available out there probably passes you by unless you are an avid bean gardener. Think about all the different dishes available and cuisines from around the world; you probably know of more beans than you realise! Do you actively cook with these superfoods though?
Bold Bean Company have a range of beans available so sent us a selection of their bestselling beans which is also available online as part of their ‘Taste the Range’. The 6 jars that were sent to us were;
Queen Red Beans
Queen Black Beans
Queen Chickpeas
Queen Butter Beans
Organic White Beans
Organic Chickpeas
I’d heard of most of them but didn’t really know anything about them nor how to cook with them. Thankfully, there are recipes available on the Bold Bean Co website, but we decided to try the Queen Butter Beans in this mince casserole (along with olives and a tomato sauce) and to roast the Queen Chickpeas in the oven with some oil and spices to make a snack.
The first thing I should note in reviewing these jars are that they are BIG! If you aren’t used to storing big jars or don’t have a fridge big enough, then I would suggest with the smaller varieties. I had to rearrange my fridge shelves for the opened jars and find a space for the unopened ones to use later. Secondly, some of the jar lids were very, very tight and required a trip to my neighbours’ house for them to open!
Each of the bean varieties have been sourced for their flavour. Once they are slow cooked to bring out the natural taste and preserve the nutrients as best as possible, they are seasoned and jarred. They’re not suspended in water though – this is bean stock, created so that the beans can marinate in a proper legume stock to keep in the flavour, nutrients and ensure the beans remain soft and don’t dry out. The bean stock can be used in soups or stews after the jar is finished with, saving you time but probably adding nutrients and flavour to a dish you wouldn’t normally use.
I added the Queen Butter Beans to a mince meat stew I had stored in the freezer in order to make a quick meal. Adding the beans along with some olives made it not only healthier but tasty too. The Queen Butter Beans (which won a Great Taste Award in 2021) are surprisingly not like butter beans you’re used to on the salad counter. These giant sized beans are creamier, but not mushy and have a slightly sweeter taste to them than canned beans that have been saturated for too long. There’s a proper taste to them, and adding them to another dish means they soak up the flavours whilst adding a texture all of their own. These Queen Butter Beans would be great for babies who are weaning onto solid food. They’re easily mashed!
The second beans I tried were the Queen Chickpeas. Bigger than the jar of Organic Chickpeas (which are great for salads, soups, broths etc) I chose these because of how I wanted to cook them. Forking a handful off onto kitchen paper, I dried them out slightly, put them in an oven dish with some oil and sprinkled them lightly with chilli. As I was already cooking the mince meat stew, at the same temperature (180C) I roasted the chickpeas as a snack that can be eaten later. 35 minutes in the oven and they were lightly roasted, but not mushy at all, and had soaked up the oil and the chilli. Careful not to use too much chilli though because it goes a lot further than you think!
As there are 500 grams of beans in the whole jar (200 grams of the bean broth makes up the full amount of 700 grams) then I will be pacing myself on using the rest of the beans. The Queen Black Beans will be brilliant for fajitas (my favourite dish!) and tacos; the Organic Chickpeas for salads when I will be able to use them cold and the Queen Red and Queen White Beans can be used in stews and casseroles where I don’t normally use them, and give some lovely colour.
I’ve only had one meal and one snack from the beans so far… I suspect the giant 700 gram jars are a ploy to get me addicted to each of the beans slowly so that I become reliant on them in my every day cooking and the easy of just opening the jar and taking what I want but so far, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve tried and been nicely surprised by the texture, taste and quality of them.
I think once more people cotton onto the properties of beans and how healthy they are, Bold Bean Co will become a favourite for everyone!
Bold Bean Co have recently won a BOOM award from the Soil Association for being able to demonstrate their support for the organic industry.
Taste the Range set of beans available for £25 at:
The Review Studio 