Soft, creamy beans from Peru’s coastal valleys, celebrated for their pale gold colour, quick cooking and a gentle flavour that anchors everyday dishes. The Heirloom Bean Co sources these Phaseolus beans from Mexican bean and authentic food specialist La Comandanta, working to revitalise traditional Mexican agriculture by preventing the loss of native seeds, as well as ancestral cooking and cultivation processes. Peruano ("Peruvian") beans take their name directly from their homeland, where they’ve long been a staple in coastal and Andean kitchens. Their pale yellow colour, thin skins and naturally creamy texture make them exceptionally versatile, absorbing seasoning with ease and excelling in bright, pepper‑forward, herb‑layered and citrus‑lifted preparations across Latin American cuisine. Working with La Comandanta The Heirloom Bean Co has forged a new partnership with Mexico City’s La Comandanta, a business working to identify, rescue and promote authentic Mexican foods grown and made by rural producers using traditional farming and culinary methods. Through this partnership The Heirloom Bean Company is now fairly trading heirloom beans grown by smallholder farmers and processed and packed in Mexico. La Comandanta’s motto Cocina una Revolución ("Cook a Revolution") describes their ethos that eating authentic food is an act of cultural and agricultural resistance to mainstream agrifood corporations. They’re committed to fair and transparent trade, and supporting social and economic development. A key concern is the seed diversity and agricultural heritage of Mexico, with Bolivia one of two centres of genetic diversity of the Phaseolus bean species. La Comandanta aims to revive traditional Mexican farming and save heirloom varieties from extinction. Many farmers have stopped growing these varieties for lack of access to fair markets and fear of crop failure. To encourage and support them La Comandanta pays a fair price for crops and offers advance loans at the time of sowing. The Heirloom Bean Co has visited many of the farmers growing beans to understand the challenges they face and pays an additional 15% premium over the farmgate price into a fund to cover the loans in case of any crop failure. As beans fall outside the usual commodities covered by fair trade labelling schemes the Heirloom Bean Co has introduced its own Fairly Traded emblem to communicate their partnership of trading fairly.
