Bean Count Contest #11

How many beans in this jar?

There are 2 types of beans:

• Soy Beans
• Pinto Beans

The Rules

• The jar of beans is at the plant-based booth at the Davis Farmers' Market every Saturday (weather permitting) from 8:00-1:00 in the non-profit/community area.
• It is free to guess (estimate) the number of beans in the jar. You can update your guess by submitting another one.
• The contest will end when there are 70 or 80 guesses. It will then take a little while to carefully count the beans.
• The 3 guesses that are closest (above or below) to the final count will win the prizes. Ties will be resolved by a complex objective algorithm and (if needed) a coin toss. The winners will be notified and the results will be posted on this web site.

  Everyone will receive a message - win or lose.

The Prizes

1. $50 gift certificate at the Davis Food Co-op at 620 G Street.
2. $30 gift certificate at Trader Joe's at 885 Russell Blvd.
3. The Great Vegan Bean Book - bean cookbook by Kathy Hester, published by Fair Winds Press in 2013.

The Guesses (aka Estimates)

Several people carefully analyzed, counted, measured, and multiplied. Others made a 'wild ass guess' by gut instinct and intuition. Estimation is a difficult art.

Bar graph of the guesses:

< 150 ***
< 200 ******
< 250 *******
< 300 ***
< 350 *********
< 400 ******
< 450 ***********
< 500 *********
< 550 **********************
< 600 **************
< 650 *****
< 700 **
< 750 ******
< 800 *
< 850 ******
< 900 *****
< 950 *
<1050 ***
<1100 *
<1150 *
<1250 *
<1550 *
<1650 *
<2050 *
<5050 *

Here are all the guesses - with people's names abbreviated to the first 3 characters of their first and last names.

In guess numerical order

In alphabetical order by name

The Final Count

Soy Beans	361
Pinto Beans	251
Total	612

The Winners

Off By	Guess	Name	Prize
4	616	Maxwell Severson	$50 Gift Certificate at the Co-op
4	616	Jaisy Huang	$30 Gift Certificate at Trader Joe's
18	630	Maia Byrne	The Great Vegan Bean Book cookbook

Since there was a tie for first place I will award both Maxwell and Jaisy gift certificates of $25 at the Co-op and $15 at Trader Joe’s.

The Beans

Ubiquitous the world over, this Asian bean is popular not as a dried bean but made into products such as soy sauce, miso, tofu, tempeh, and more. I recently acquired a non-dairy milk maker named Arcmira. It makes soy milk beautifully (and almond and ...).

Pinto Beans

This mottled pinkish bean is the most popular in the United States and parts of Mexico where it stars in frijoles refritos, borrachos (drunken beans), tacos, and burritos. My favorite restaurant for bean burritos is Taco Bell! It’s open until 3:00 am, they have nice bathrooms, internet access, and is rather inexpensive! I like to omit the cheese and add seasoned rice, lettuce, and purple cabbage. Yum!

Questions?