Newsletters
Fall - Winter, 2002 Newsletter
Volume 8 Issue 2
First Annual Maine Food Festival
On Saturday, October 12, 2002 I
traveled to Unity, Maine to attend the First Annual Maine Food
Festival where I had been invited to talk about the history of
bean-hole beans. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
and the Slow Food Convivium of Rockland sponsored the event. The
idea of the event was to make the connection between healthy and
sustainable local agriculture, together with healthy and locally
vibrant cuisine. It was also a heck of a lot of fun. There were
twenty or so contestants who brought samples of their favorite
recipes of baked beans, a demonstration of bean-hole beans prepared
and served by Al and Nancy Putnam of New Limerick, Maine, and
several dry bean growers were on hand with beans for sale. There was
also an impressive display of bean varieties.
I had a research question in mind when I went to the event. "Just
what kinds of bean varieties are used to bake beans in different
parts of the state?" I knew that marifax beans were popular in
Addison, and Kings clear in Jonesport, folks in the Ellsworth area
used Jacob’s Cattle and others in the Penobscot valley preferred
yellow eye (except at Brewer church suppers where they prefer the
little white pea beans). Well, I didn’t learn much more than that,
but one important bit of information I got from the growers was that
the marifax bean had been introduced to Downeast Maine by the
federal government in the Depression. It’s a small, round, brown
bean that can handle the tough growing conditions of Washington
county and still put out a good crop.
I decided that I would contact some of the bean growers later this
winter for a more formal discussion about bean varieties, but
meanwhile I got to taste twenty different batches of baked beans.
Some were made in the bean hole, and some in the oven. Some had very
little sweetness, some were more flavored with salt pork, some had
the smokey flavor of smoked pork, some were sweeter, having more
molasses.
Well, I’m not going to reveal who I voted for, since some of my
personal friends and neighbors were contestants, but I can say there
weren’t any beans I didn’t like. I came away with two pounds of
yellow eye beans (my personal favorite) and a plan to bake some this
coming weekend. If you’d like to check out the two organizations
that put on this event you can find them at:
http://www.mofga.org
I’m looking forward to the second annual event and conducting more
food research
- Pauleena
MacDougall
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