Black Beans w/recipe

Whenever we have fresh Basil, it's a good time to make black beans :)

To harvest basil, I always pinch back the tops down one or two nodes. This will stop it from going to flower and let it double each time. (Each center stem pinched back to just above a node will result in two new center stems, and so on...bushing the plant outward) I rarely pick the lower leaves on basil plants under 6 months old, because they need them.

For the black beans...

I always soak dried beans overnight. Then put them into the crock pot on high with fresh water covering them by about an inch, for an hour or two (or simmer on the stovetop for canning with twice the water), with some bayberry leaves. 

I saute in olive oil (or clarified butter if I have some) 1 med red onion, a few cloves of garlic, and add about 1 T each of cumin, turmeric, brown mustard, some salt and pepper if I feel pepperish, and saute that into a paste.

Then add it to the beans, along with the basil, a couple T of lemon juice if I have it...and then turn the heat down to low for some hours. (for canning we want to cook the beans until they are 3/4 done. Where we can squish them, but they are not cooked all the way)

 I usually use some bean broth to get all of the spices out of the pan...

For canning, once the beans are ready, I fill the jars to 2 inches below the rim, then add the broth to 1 inch below. You need a good head space, but you also need plenty of broth because the beans will soak it up in their 80 minutes in the pressure canner. (check your altitude for the pressure you need to use)

On a side note, if you are not used to cooking with Turmeric, keep in mind that it is also a very beautiful yellow dye ;) It will dye anything it gets on, and probably never come out...

Sometimes I add some of our fresh canned tomatoes in the winter too...then we have it with rice.