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We've teamed up with Hodmedod on shipping of our orders - click above to order. If you opt in to marketing when ordering you will also be subscribed to the Heirloom Bean Co newsletter.
Tepary beans are truly remarkable: tiny, drought‑defying seeds domesticated 5,000 years ago by the indigenous communities of the Sonoran Desert, and kept alive through generations of careful stewardship by the Pima and Tohona O’odham nations. Their story is both ancient and urgently contemporary — a crop shaped by millennia of adaptation, nearly lost to modern agriculture, and now revived through cultural pride, scientific interest, and the work of dedicated farmers such as our growers: Ramona and Terry Button of Ramona Farms in Arizona.
Teparies were once grown widely across the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, valued for their ability to flourish where other crops failed. They can survive temperatures over 48C, need astonishingly little water and are naturally pest resistant, producing a full, nutrition-dense harvest in just 60 days. The traits that made teparies essential for desert peoples now position them as a climate‑resilient crop for the future. Research highlighted by Alliance Bioversity–CIAT describes how these heroic legumes, though historically central to Indigenous diets, slipped into obscurity as industrial agriculture favoured uniform, high‑input varieties. Their work documents efforts to locate remaining landraces, understand why they were neglected, and support communities in restoring them to fields and kitchens. It’s fitting that this noble survivor finds itself in a varietal class of its own: the solitary Phaseolus acutifolius.
These certified-organic white tepary beans are descended from seeds Ramona found in the 1970s in glass jars in the old adobe house where she grew up - on a small-holding cultivated by her father, an O’odham farmer, in southern Arizona’s Gila River Indian Reservation. They shine with a lightly sweet, nuttyish flavour and a firm, resilient texture — in the mouth they’re a bit pinto, a bit kidney and a bit lentil. Try hard and you can probably taste that fabled desert heritage! We’re delighted to be able to offer these little legends to British bean lovers for the very first time.
RECIPE SUGGESTIONS
Teparies boast the versatility that comes with a few millennia of culinary experimentation. These firm white beauties are very much at home in classic “de la olla” stews with garlic and onions, but also star in summer salads, soups and even as the basis of a hummus-style dip.
COOKING THESE BEANS - THE RAMONA FARMS METHOD
Place 1lb/453g of dried beans in a pot with 2.25 litres of water and bring to a boil.
Turn off heat and soak for 2 hours.
Pour off soaking water, rinse beans and add 2.25 litres of fresh water.
Bring pot to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.
Partially cover the pot and cook beans until tender (approximately 6 to 8 hours).
Or place in a slow-cooker crockpot on high for 8-10 hours, or 45-60 minutes in a pressure cooker (add hot water as needed in both cases).
Add salt to taste (after cooking).
Rule of thumb - if you can't smell them, they aren’t done!
Similar to: Pinto, Black Garbanzo, Cranberry
Latin name: Phaseolus acutifolius
Country of origin: USA
Sold in 1lb (453g) bags
Buy now
We've teamed up with Hodmedod on shipping of our orders - click above to order. If you opt in to marketing when ordering you will also be subscribed to the Heirloom Bean Co newsletter.
Tepary beans are truly remarkable: tiny, drought‑defying seeds domesticated 5,000 years ago by the indigenous communities of the Sonoran Desert, and kept alive through generations of careful stewardship by the Pima and Tohona O’odham nations. Their story is both ancient and urgently contemporary — a crop shaped by millennia of adaptation, nearly lost to modern agriculture, and now revived through cultural pride, scientific interest, and the work of dedicated farmers such as our growers: Ramona and Terry Button of Ramona Farms in Arizona.
Teparies were once grown widely across the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, valued for their ability to flourish where other crops failed. They can survive temperatures over 48C, need astonishingly little water and are naturally pest resistant, producing a full, nutrition-dense harvest in just 60 days. The traits that made teparies essential for desert peoples now position them as a climate‑resilient crop for the future. Research highlighted by Alliance Bioversity–CIAT describes how these heroic legumes, though historically central to Indigenous diets, slipped into obscurity as industrial agriculture favoured uniform, high‑input varieties. Their work documents efforts to locate remaining landraces, understand why they were neglected, and support communities in restoring them to fields and kitchens. It’s fitting that this noble survivor finds itself in a varietal class of its own: the solitary Phaseolus acutifolius.
These certified-organic white tepary beans are descended from seeds Ramona found in the 1970s in glass jars in the old adobe house where she grew up - on a small-holding cultivated by her father, an O’odham farmer, in southern Arizona’s Gila River Indian Reservation. They shine with a lightly sweet, nuttyish flavour and a firm, resilient texture — in the mouth they’re a bit pinto, a bit kidney and a bit lentil. Try hard and you can probably taste that fabled desert heritage! We’re delighted to be able to offer these little legends to British bean lovers for the very first time.
RECIPE SUGGESTIONS
Teparies boast the versatility that comes with a few millennia of culinary experimentation. These firm white beauties are very much at home in classic “de la olla” stews with garlic and onions, but also star in summer salads, soups and even as the basis of a hummus-style dip.
COOKING THESE BEANS - THE RAMONA FARMS METHOD
Place 1lb/453g of dried beans in a pot with 2.25 litres of water and bring to a boil.
Turn off heat and soak for 2 hours.
Pour off soaking water, rinse beans and add 2.25 litres of fresh water.
Bring pot to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.
Partially cover the pot and cook beans until tender (approximately 6 to 8 hours).
Or place in a slow-cooker crockpot on high for 8-10 hours, or 45-60 minutes in a pressure cooker (add hot water as needed in both cases).
Add salt to taste (after cooking).
Rule of thumb - if you can't smell them, they aren’t done!
Similar to: Pinto, Black Garbanzo, Cranberry
Latin name: Phaseolus acutifolius
Country of origin: USA
Sold in 1lb (453g) bags
