Does Fig Food Co. Make the Best Organic Black Beans?

Cold winter days leave me hankering for warm, nourishing soups and stews – especially ones I can create effortlessly in my slow cooker.

Although it is always better (and cheaper) to make your own beans from dried beans, my busy schedule means that I am always looking for shortcuts that don’t sacrifice nutrition or taste.

I recently stumbled on organic black beans made by Fig Food Company. The packaging intrigued me – instead of cans, the company packages the beans in a paper pouch made of polyethylene, nylon, aluminum, and polypropylene which is fairly sturdy and BPA-free.  (Plus their packaging is recyclable in many communities.)

Here’s the best part – the only ingredients are water and organic black beans. That’s it! No salt, no calcium chloride, and certainly no Disodium EDTA (a preservative used by many companies to “preserve freshness.”)

And the clincher?  These beans taste almost as good as my homemade version from dried beans and have a great texture – fully cooked, but not at all mushy.  I made a batch of my Mexican Black Bean Chili from Fool a Carnivore using them, and thought it was the best I’d made in many moons.  I can’t wait to try them in my Brazilian Feijoada recipe – another cold weather favorite!

I’ve bought a couple of packets of their other beans – Barlotti (which are very hard to find), small red beans, and chick peas.   Here’s their website link so please seek them out. Right now their product line is limited to beans and soups, and I found them at both Earth Fare and Whole Foods.