Controne Beans

These 1 pound bags of Controne beans are from the fall 2022 harvest. 

Controne beans are an incredibly special bean. This small, round, slightly oval-shaped white bean is an heirloom bean from the Controne Municipality in Salerno (just southeast of Naples). Controne Beans have been listed in the Slow Food Ark of Taste as a bean of cultural importance on the verge of being lost. Controne beans were originally cultivated by Benedictine monks in Salerno (about 100 miles away from where our family is from in Barletta, Italy!). They are creamy, thin skinned white beans that are easy to digest. We are proud to grow these Italian beans on our farm and even happier when we get to eat them. 

These beans are incredibly fresh (we sell out every year before the next harvest) and have thin skins, making it not totally necessary to soak them. But, if you want to shorten the cooking time to under an hour, it is helpful to soak them overnight. Bring a pot of beans with water (a few inches higher than the beans themselves) to a boil. Let the beans boil for 15 minutes. Reduce to a simmer until beans are done cooking. Add hot water if your liquid gets low (adding cold water will increase cooking time). Salt the pot when the beans are done. These beans are great in a bowl with a hearty drizzle of olive oil and a bit of Piment d’Ville. 

Learn more here about how we threshed these beans by bike!