Bean Harvest 2020

We are very excited to share a first ever look at how our beans are grown. One thing that we’ve learned over the years is that the key to a great finished product is the quality of its ingredients. Just like fresh vegetables from your garden or the local farmer’s market makes your cooking taste better, food that is grown in good soil and a clean environment makes our job of producing good food so much easier. It is always our proudest day when we can share a look at where our foods are grown because to us, farming is everything.

Our beans are grown and produced in the Piedmont region of Italy, which is well known for this type of farming because it has the ideal climate for growing beans. In order to grow a good bean, you need cool nights and warm days, and you need plenty of good water. This farm is at the foot of the Italian Alps, on flat land that is surrounded by beautiful views to the nearby mountains, and is the perfect place to grow beans.

A few important things to know about this farm:

• Family-owned farm and certified organic for nearly 25 years, with decades of bean farmers in the family
• When you arrive at the town where the farm is located, there is a sign that says – Centallo, Land of Beans.
• The farmer points out that being far away from major highways and roads may be an economic disadvantage for the town, but the air and soil are pure and clean.
• Beans are planted, harvested, processed and stored right at the farm.
• There are no grains grown on the farm, only beans. Although the farming is very traditional, modern optical sensors scan and eliminate beans with mottled skins or dark spots, so only top-quality beans are used for production.
• Beans are visually inspected again before they are soaked and cooked. Each lot is tested for gluten, and the facility is gluten free certified.

As parents of young girls, we really wanted to have tomatoes and beans packed in glass jars in our home so we didn’t have to worry about BPA and the chemicals that are present in the lining of tin cans. Some may refer to can linings as “enamel”, but as a manufacturer in a factory setting, I would hear the lining referred to as polyester paint. There are many things to understand about your food, and choices to make about whether a product is a good value. In many minds, beans are just a commodity and should be cheap, no more than a buck a can is what we hear. In our minds, beans that are prepared correctly are an essential plant protein for many people. We don’t treat our beans like a commodity, and we are thrilled to see sales growing and that our customers notice the difference.  It’s a beautiful business model- connecting farmers and producers who care for this earth and the food they grow with customers who understand the value of their efforts. We love to see how proud the farmers are of getting their pictures taken. After all, they really are the most essential part of the food chain but are not always celebrated as much as they should be.