Noland Johnson holds white tepary beans grown in Cowlic, near Sells.
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One of Tucson’s oldest foods nearly disappeared from the culinary map.
When Spaniards first ventured into the lands settled by the Pima-speaking tribes, they found a thriving agricultural community producing corn, squash and beans.
The beans were varieties of tepary beans, which could be coaxed from flood fields in a short, hot growing season.
With irrigated agriculture, the larger pinto bean came to dominate, and tepary beans began to disappear.
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The bean was one of the original targets for preservation by ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan and the Native Seeds/SEARCH movement he helped found.
Native Seeds/SEARCH has collected and cultivated 90 varieties, said Director Chris Schmidt. It sells 33 varieties of the beans.
Tohono O’odham Community Action grows white and brown tepary varieties on heritage farms.
Tepary beans are smaller than the more popular varieties, but they are the hardiest of the legumes and are beginning to be recognized for their taste and health advantages.
They contain more protein than ordinary beans and have a lower glycemic index.
Today, they can be found in dishes devised by the Southwest’s most creative chefs.
“They are a classic underutiilized species,” said Schmidt, who added that they could be widely used in other semiarid and arid environments.
