Pot of beans is lifted from the hole after cooking overnight (about 16 hours). |
Bean-Hole Beans
The preparation of bean hole beans, a traditional
foodway that Maine lumberjacks borrowed and adapted from Native
American practices, was preserved by the Maine Folklife Center at
the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, Maine. A cast-iron pot of
beans is buried with hot coals for 16 hours in a rock-lined pit
that is three feet deep. Traditionally, heirloom colonial varieties
of beans are used such as Yellow Eye, Jacob's Cattle, and Soldier.
A videotape of the bean hole bean demonstration was made at the
September 1999 fair.
Still photographs augment the video, highlighting the
laborious undertaking of digging and preparing the hole. The fire
must burn for half a day before enough coals are produced to cook
the beans properly. Detailed text accompanies the visual
documentation, including instructions on the procedure, bean
recipes, and folksy testimony from present-day practitioners of the
art, one of whom says that bean hole beans always taste better than
regular beans because "you don't have to keep adding water, which
dilutes the taste."
Originally submitted by: Olympia Snowe, Senator Susan Collins, Senator Tom Allen, Representative (1st District) John Baldacci, Representative (2nd District).
More Local Legacies... |
|
|
The Local Legacies project provides a "snapshot" of American Culture as it was expressed in spring of 2000. Consequently, it is not being updated with new or revised information with the exception of "Related Website" links.
Learn More About It... |
|
|
|