15 bean soup

15 bean soup is a soup comprised of fifteen kinds of bean, common in the United States, and having a history that goes back over a century. While people once mixed their own beans, today a mixture of the fifteen dried beans with standard seasonings is often purchased to start off the process, although this was possible even long ago, as attested to by mail-order catalogues from the first half of the 20th century. While the normal recipe includes ham, it is a popular dish among vegetarians, sans meat.

15 bean soup retains a historic trait generally left behind by other soup recipes; it is considered best-tasting if cooked for, literally, days. "Peas porrige in the pot, nine days old" may no longer apply to split pea soup, but does to 15 bean soup.

The beans typically include a subset of this list:

* black beans
* red beans
* kidney beans
* navy beans
* great northern beans
* Various forms of lima bean
** baby
** green
** white
* pinto beans
* Various forms of split pea
** green
** yellow
* black-eyed peas
* Various forms of lentil
** red
** green
** brown
* cranberry beans (shell beans)
* chick peas (garbanzo beans)

External links

* [http://www.hurstbeans.com/ Hurst produces a half dozen types of 15 bean soup]
* [http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotsoup/r/bl74c8.htm About.com 15 bean soup recipe]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGvspacTw04 Cajun 15 bean soup recipe video]