This Subscription Will Make You a Bean Person (And You Want to Be to a Bean Person)

It doesn’t take long for people to know me as a “bean person.” When a legume recipe goes viral or a popular restaurant posts an especially appealing-looking chickpea dish, people tag me; when a clothing brand launches bean merch, I get the link. At work, if there’s a bean recipe to assign, everyone turns to point at yours truly. Such was the story with SIMPLi’s membership club, PANTRi. When the brand, which specializes in regenerative organic dry beans, made the announcement, half a dozen people asked me about it. I, of course, had already seen the press release and posted about it in BA’s Slack.I’ve been cooking with SIMPLi products—I’m especially fond of their black lentils—for a few years now. In addition to dry beans and other legumes, they sell pantry staples like grains, spices, and oils. While most items available directly through their website are sold in three-packs, you may have seen them on grocery store shelves at some national retailers like Whole Foods.Perhaps this isn’t the first you’ve heard of a bean club. Rancho Gordo’s heritage bean membership club is a very hot ticket—so hot, in fact, that slots very rarely open, and some people have spent years on its waitlist. (I’ll note that this is not to drum up false scarcity; it’s to ensure quality control and protect independent farmers’ resources.) Still, it can be frustrating to not be a part of the club. For anyone stuck in bean subscription purgatory, PANTRi is an excellent option.The quarterly PANTRi membership sends a curated mix of seven different SIMPLi bags, along with a sample of a rarer product. The sizable number of offerings in every box can help bean novices get acquainted with new products and strengthen their bond with favorites. The first edition consisted of gigante, fava, kidney, and pinto beans; red quinoa and farro, and a tin of Spanish extra-virgin olive oil. The special inclusion this time were Orca beans, a stunning black and white marbled heirloom bean that isn’t available for purchase outside of the PANTRi membership.My September Pantri haul. Rebecca FirkserYou’ve probably noticed by now that SIMPLi’s beans are dried, as in, not ready to eat. If you’re someone who finds yourself rushing through dinner you may have spent years eschewing dried beans for the ease of a can. But adding a simple pot of beans to your meal prep is really quite easy: Rinse the beans, then add them to a pot with water, a handful of salt, good glug of olive oil, a halved onion and some smashed garlic cloves (If I have a few extra minutes, I’ll sear the alliums in the oil first) maybe a handful of woody herbs or a chile. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat, partially cover the pot, and simmer until the beans are tender—this can take anywhere from 40 minutes for smaller beans, like navy; to 2 hours for fat gigantes. Timing can also vary depending on the bean age (yet another reason to buy from a small supplier like SIMPLi, which moves through less product efficiently, as opposed to a huge operation that can stockpile in warehouses for years), and whether you soaked them first.What would I make with such a haul? The gigantes would be dreamy in my Big Bean Ceviche (finished with the EVOO!), and I’d love to anchor the toppings of a breakfast burrito with Rick Martinez’s refried pinto beans; any of the above would be fantastic in Jesse Szewczyk’s bean-forward vegan chili. I’d use the red quinoa in this hearty salad (and if I had leftover beans, I would swap them in for the canned cannellinis). As for the beautiful black and white Orcas, there’s no better way to treat them than a long bath in a bubbling pot until brothy, then enjoy them—and all that bean broth!—like soup with a thick slice of toast for dunking.More subscriptions we loveOur favorite meat subscriptionsThe best coffee subscriptions from roasters all over the USThe best meal kits, for those nights you need to not think about dinner