Pinto Bean

Pinto beans are the seeds of a bushy or short-vining variety of the common bean. Pods contain about four to six oval, medium-sized seeds, 10 to 15 millimetres long, which are pale pink to beige with reddish-brown speckles. The pattern fades on cooking, and the beans turn a uniform soft pinkish-brown. Cooked pinto beans have a creamy, earthy and mildly sweet flavour and a soft, starchy texture that mashes easily.

The common bean was domesticated in the Americas, and pinto beans are a market class developed from it in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Today they are grown in the northern Great Plains and the western US, particularly North Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado and Idaho, and in Mexico, which is a very large consumer. They prefer warm days and cool nights, and well-drained soils.

Native peoples of the Americas cultivated beans alongside maize and squash for thousands of years, in the combination known as the Three Sisters. Spanish settlers in New Mexico and Mexico adopted varied bean types in their cooking, and the speckled seeds were given the name pinto, meaning painted or mottled.

In the twentieth century, pinto beans became the leading dry bean in the United States, important to cooking in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. They are sold dry, canned and as refried beans, and are used in school and institutional meals. Breeders have developed varieties with improved disease resistance and some that cook faster, and they remain an inexpensive source of protein around the world.

Pinto beans are simmered with onion, garlic and chilli for frijoles de la olla, then mashed and fried to make refried beans, which fill burritos, tacos and tostadas. They are cooked in chilli, soups, stews and casseroles, and served with rice or cornbread. Cooked beans are added to salads and dips. Soak dried beans overnight or use the quick boil method, then simmer until tender, about one to one and a half hours. Add salt and acidic ingredients like tomato near the end if you want softer beans.

Cooked pinto beans are an excellent source of fibre and a good source of plant protein, folate, thiamine, magnesium, potassium and iron, with almost no fat. Their soluble fibre and slow-digesting carbohydrates give a lower glycaemic response than refined grains. Eating legumes regularly is associated with better heart health in population studies. Canned beans can contain a lot of sodium, so rinse them well, and check refried bean products for added fats.