Rita Bingham (author of COUNTRY BEANS and NATURAL MEALS IN MINUTES), the world’s Mother Superior of bean cookery, pioneered the idea of using bean flour to boost the nutrient content of recipes and to significantly speed up the time to make bean-centered dishes.

Her book, COUNTRY BEANS, came out in 2011, and ever since, chefs and recipe reviewers have been singing her praises as to the contribution she’s made to the tradition of cooking with beans. By using Rita’s method of cooking with bean flour, there’s no more soaking, boiling, simmering, or waiting!

Soups, sauces, gravies, thickeners—all from bean flour. Beans ground into a fine flour can be mixed with cool water and then whisked into boiling water and seasonings to make an almost instant soup or thickener in only 3 minutes, or you can make refried beans in 5 minutes.

And when bean flours are added to baked goods, there’s a high increase in vitamins, minerals, and protein.

Bean flour will store for up to 6 months on the shelf, 1 year under refrigeration, and 18 months when kept in the freezer.

There are several electric home grain mills which are guaranteed to grind all types of beans into a fine flour (as fine as wheat flour). For instance, the Kitchen Mill, NutriMill (which I have and love), UltraMIll, and the Wondermill Whisper Mill. Heavy duty hand grain mills also grind beans into flour (although not quite as fine).

One thing to know: Mills with grinding stones must be cleaned after each 2 cups of bean grinding. Just grinding 1 cup of wheat will do the trick. You don’t want to grind soy beans in a stone mill—they’re too gummy. If beans are too large to go easily into the grinding chamber of your mill, simply crack your beans in a blender.

Be sure to sort your beans well—you don’t want any debris or stones going into the grinder. Then pour beans into the mill hopper. Rita says you can eliminate most of the bean dust that results from grinding, by placing your mill in your sink and covering the mill (everything but the hopper) with a kitchen towel.

Use the MEDIUM-FINE grind setting, turn the mill on, and stir the beans as they slip into the grinding chamber (this prevents them getting stuck). If you’re grinding small beans, peas, or lentils, stirring isn’t necessary, however.

To cook bean, pea, or lentil flour soups in a microwave, whisk flour into cool, seasoned water in a large microwavable bowl. Cook at full power for 1 minute, or until mixture boils. Stir well, then cook an additional 2 minutes. Add cooked chicken, veggies, rice, barley, or anything else you have on hand and voila—you have a delicious and easy soup!

I’ll close with Rita’s recipe for a perfect substitution for canned cream of chicken soup. Yay! No more mystery ingredients, preservatives, or unnecessary sugars! See if you don’t think this is brilliant bean cookery!




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