
By nature and by habit, I am a decanter.
Not the kind with an hourglass figure (don't I wish?) and a cork stopper.
No, I am a person who decants almost everything in my pantry into clear jars so I can see how much of each item I have on hand. I've never been able to divine, just by looking at a box on the shelf, exactly how much sugar, or rice, or bulgur wheat, is left in the box. The smaller jars, mostly one-quart canning size, hold the things I use in smaller quantities: lentils, cocoa powder, arrowroot, table salt for baking. In medium jars, I keep various kinds of rice, and breakfast cereals. The large jars hold the basics: sugars, kosher salt, flours.
My favorite jars are what I call the amalgamators: the jar that holds leftover odds and ends of dry pasta, and the one that gathers dry beans. I only allow like-minded beans — those that cook in approximately the same time, or have the same texture or color — to cohabit. Today, my bean jar contains red kidneys and Anasazi beans, and a few navy beans hiding at the bottom. At other times, it might have cranberry beans, if I'm lucky enough to find them, or pink pintos. By the way, the United States is the world's leading producer of dry beans; I never knew that.
As kids, we were taught (by whom, I can't remember....): Beans, beans, good for your heart/The more you eat, the more you f***/ The more you f***, the better you feel/So eat your beans at every meal.
True?
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