Tepary beans are easily grown in dry conditions and are native to the Sonoran Desert. They have many nutritional benefits, can be stored for years, and taste delicious!  Like other dried beans, they are available throughout the year.

While there are wild varieties of this bean, teparies have also been grown for food since ancient times. Wild beans come in many different colors, but the most common colors are white and red. When asked by Spaniards what these beans were called, the American Indian response was “t’pawi”, which means, “It is a bean”.  To the Spanish, the word sounded like “tepary”. (1)

The beans provide healthy energy.  They are higher in protein, calcium and iron than pinto beans. (2)  The beans are also full of fiber and starch that cause slow digestion and absorption. (3)  This slow absorption can help people with diabetes control their blood sugar levels.  Others foods that are digested slowly include chia seeds, prickly pear pad, acorns and mesquite flour.

Tepary beans grow well in the heat of the Sonoran Desert.  They grow quickly after a thunderstorm or after only one irrigation.  While many beans need 90 – 120 days to produce a crop, the teparies grow in only about 85 days. They may be planted in spring, when the ground has moisture from winter rains and after the monsoon thunderstorms in the summer. It is possible to have two harvests of these beans in a year!   

Although the beans grow quickly, they may be hard to harvest, because they are small beans and the pods are thin and break easily.  Each bean is about half the size of a pinto bean.  The beans can then be dried and stored for years! (4)  

Tepary beans can be a delicious food for anyone’s table.  The recipes below are shared from those who have grown the beans and want to share their nutty flavor and creamy texture with others.

Resources

1. Edward Castetter and Ruth Underhill, “Ethnobiological Studies in the American Southwest II:  Ethnobiology of the Papago Indians” University of New Mexico Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 3, Biological Series, 1935, p. 32
2. J.C. Scheerens, A.M. Tinsley, I.R. Abbas, C.W. Wever, and J.W. Berry, the Nutritional significance of Tepary Bean Consumption, Desert Plants 5(1):11-14.
3. D.J.A. Jenkins and Janette Brand, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1987:46:66-71 and 1990; 51:416-420
4. http://www.seedsofchange.com/enewsletter/issue_56/tepary_beans.asp

For more information about tepary beans:

Native Seed/SEARCH
526 North Fourth Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85705
www.nativeseeds.org

San Xavier Farm Cooperative Association
8100 south Oidak Wog
Tucson, AZ  86746
520-295-3774

Tohono O’odham Community Action (TOCA)
PO Box 1790
Sells, AZ 85634
520-383-4966  www.tocaonline.org