style="font-size:15px;"> Virus-Free Yellow Tepary: ochre-colored, virus-free tepary beans; available from Native Seeds/SEARCH
Fava Beans
‘Windsor’: 80 days; bush; grows to 5 feet with green pods to 10 inches; large, light green beans
Runner Beans
‘Aztec Scarlet Runner’: 55 days; richly flavored pods; scarlet flowers; available from Plants of the Southwest
How to prepare: In Mexico, fresh snap beans are cooked with chiles, onions, garlic, and oil, or used in pork and egg dishes and in soups. Dry, however, is the favorite way Mexicans enjoy beans; dry beans are eaten nearly every day in a classic bean soup (see recipe for Frijoles de Olla on page 62) or in stews, tostadas, burritos (see recipe, page 84), and, of course, as creamy refried beans (see recipe, page 63). They can be stuffed into chiles or used as a filling for Mexican sandwiches (tortas). Runner beans are used in soups and in tamales.
Fava beans are used dry or fresh and are delicious combined with garlic, chiles, or both. Young fava beans have a special sweetness. Once these tasty beans are fully mature, they are shelled and then the bean skins must be peeled before preparation. Try them fresh or dried in a classic Mexican sauce with roasted tomatoes, onions, and garlic (see recipe, page 70).
Caution: Some males of Mediterranean descent are allergic to favas and should be wary when trying them for the first time. Persons taking antidepressants with monoamine inhibitors should avoid them at all costs.
Beans, shown clockwise, from upper-left corner: pinto, giant pinto, scarlet runner, and Peruano
CHARD, SWISS
(ACELGA)
Beta vulgaris var. flavescens
CHARD IS A GREEN introduced into Mexico by the Spanish.
How to grow: Swiss chard tolerates a lot more heat than most greens, though it suffers in extreme heat, and is moderately hardy. Start it in early spring or late summer for mild-winter areas. Plant chard seeds ½ inch deep, 6 inches apart, and thin to 1 foot. Plant in full sun and neutral soil with lots of added organic matter. For tender, succulent leaves, keep plants well watered. Mulch with a few inches of organic matter. When plants are about 0 weeks old, fertilize with ½ cup balanced organic fertilizer for every 5 feet of row. A few pests and diseases bother chard, mainly slugs and snails (especially when the plants are young), and leaf miner, a fly larva.
To harvest chard, remove the outside leaves at the base; tender new leaves keep coming throughout the season.
Varieties
‘Fordhook Giant’: 60 days, a classic green chard with white ribs, fairly cold hardy
How to prepare: For centuries, the Mexican people harvested wild greens (quelites). Since their introduction by the Spanish, Swiss chard and, occasionally, spinach are often cooked in the same way as the quelites—namely, sautéed, steamed, or boiled until just done, and sliced or chopped. The greens are then added to seasoned sauces or vegetables—for example, a mixture of cooked onions, chiles, garlic, and other seasonings, like tomatoes and tomatillos. Alternately, the aromatic vegetables are pureed to make a sauce and the cooked greens—in this case, chard—added. This dish is served with tortillas. Chard can be added to green rice or to egg scrambles or combined with roasted poblanos and Mexican crema or new potatoes and tomatoes.
'Fordhook Giant’ chard
CHAYOTE
(CHAYOTE)
Sechium edule
CHAYOTES ARE NATIVE TO tropical America. This green, pear-shaped vegetable is versatile, absorbs seasonings well, and is much appreciated in Mexico. There, chayotes are creamy white or dark green and either thorny or smooth, while the chayotes we usually see in U.S. markets are medium green and smooth. As with summer squash, some varieties are delicately sweet and somewhat watery while others resemble potatoes in their starchiness.
How to grow: Chayotes are huge vines, 10 to 20 feet long, and are tender perennials that thrive only where winters are nearly frost free. Chayotes produce more fruit when more than one plant is present for cross-pollination.
To start your plants, buy three or so fruits at a produce market in late spring. (You only need one, but sometimes they rot.) I wait until the chayotes start to sprout on my kitchen windowsill and then plant them in one-gallon containers. I mostly cover the fruits with potting soil, leaving the shoot sticking out just above ground, and keep the soil moist but not wet. Shoots need lots of light, so I put them in a south-facing window or under grow lights. In a few weeks, the plants are established and I fertilize at this time with fish emulsion.
Once the weather is fully warmed up I plant the two chayotes a foot apart, ifl have limited room, 6 feet or more otherwise. Chayotes grow best in full sun in fertile, well-drained soil. Snails, slugs, and cucumber beetles are occasional problems. The vines, which need strong support, start to flower in the fall and to fruit 6 or 8 weeks later. (The spiny varieties take a longer season to flower and fruit.) Fruits are ready for harvesting when they are 3 or 4 inches in length. A vine can produce more than 50 fruits.
Starting chayote plants by planting the fruits
the chayote fruit itself.
How to prepare: The small fruits can be eaten without peeling, but the skin must be removed on mature ones. Be aware, though: when you peel raw chayotes, they exude a sticky substance. It can be removed by washing and rubbing, but some cooks wear rubber gloves or parboil the fruit for a few minutes before peeling. The smooth, light green chayotes have a mild, less pronounced flavor than the spiny or dark green ones. According to Juvenal Chavez, owner of Mi Pueblo stores in San José, the spiny chayotes are considered more flavorful and preferred for simple dishes that showcase the fruit.
In Mexican cuisine, chayotes are most often steamed or boiled for about 15 minutes, seasoned with butter, salt, and pepper, and served with salsa, or combined with garlic, chiles, and, sometimes, tomatoes (see recipe, page 80), and sautéed. Recipes occasionally call for adding chayote slices to soups or steaming and cutting them in thick slices, making a sandwich of them with cheese in between, and dipping them in egg batter and cooking them like chiles rellenos. A salad of steamed and cooled chayote can be dressed with lime juice or vinegar and mixed with tomatoes and onions. The men I met at the Mi Tierra community gardens in San José enjoy them steamed and mashed with milk and honey or baked in aluminum foil in the oven like baked potatoes. Chayotes are sometimes made into a dessert by stuffing them with a mixture of eggs, sugar, spongecake crumbs, and seasonings and baking them.
CHIA
(CHÍA)
Salvia hispanica
MEXICAN CHIA IS MOST FAMILIAR to Americans as those cute little Chia Pets in the TV commercials. A number of plants are called chía; another one, S. columbariae, referred to as desert or golden chía,
