Yellow Eyed Beans

Phaseolus vulgaris L. ~ I looked it up. This is the scientific name of the dry beans that we eat. I tried to find out an estimate of the number of varieties of these humble seeds, but couldn't. There are many. I recently bought 5# of these beautiful Yellow Eyed Beans:



I've never cooked with them before. Today I made some delicious baked beans with them!




Baked Beans

2 cups beans (yellow-eyed or Navy)
3 quarts water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 medium diced onion
1/4 cup Sucanat
1/3 cup molasses
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 Tablespoon natural sea salt
1.5 teaspoons dried mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 pound diced bacon

The day before, carefully pick over and wash the beans with cold water. Soak the beans in 3 quarts of water with the lemon juice added ~ at least overnight, or up to 24 hours.

Drain and rinse beans. Cover them with more water and bring to a boil. Then, simmer them until when you blow on a few, the skins split.

Drain and rinse the beans and put them into a cast iron dutch oven or a good sized casserole dish with a lid.

Mix together all the rest of the ingredients and stir that into the beans.

Pour in boiling water, just enough to cover the beans and stir again.

Put on the lid and bake at 250 degrees F. for 8 hours. Check them from time to time and add a bit more boiling water if you need to. For the last 30 minutes, take off the lid.

My husband said, "These are really good!"