Bean Count Contest #19

How many beans in this jar?

There were 19 different types of 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 more than 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 Co-op at 620 G Street
2. $30 Gift Certificate at the Co-op at 620 G Street
3. Your choice of several plant-based cookbooks.

Plant-based Cookbooks

• Plant-based Cooking for Kids - Faith Goimarac Ralphs
• The Help Yourself Cookbook for Kids - Ruby Roth
• The Great Vegan Bean Book - Kathy Hester
• Cool Beans - Joe Yonan
• Forks Over Knives, The Cookbook - Del Sroufe

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:

<  75 *
< 100 ***
< 125 ***********
< 150 *****************
< 175 *************************
< 200 **************
< 225 ********************
< 250 **************************
< 275 ********
< 300 ********
< 325 ***************
< 350 *******
< 375 *******
< 400 ***
< 425 *****
< 450 **
< 475 **
< 525 **
< 550 *
< 575 *
< 600 *
< 650 *
< 700 *
<1925 *

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

A mixture of 19 different types of beans.	348
Total	348

The Winners

Off By	Guess	Name	Prize
5	343	Cory Yee	$50 Gift Certificate at the Co-op at 620 G Street
9	339	Kaitlyn Liu	$30 Gift Certificate at the Co-op at 620 G Street
9	357	Heather Hayes	Your choice of several plant-based cookbooks.

The Beans and a Recipe

Here are the names of the beans. I had never heard of many of these varieties. The names are very creative. Black Garbanzo Cascade Giant Cherokee Trail of Tears Climbing French Bean Smeraldo Dwarf French Borlotto Florida Specked Butter French Filet Garbanzo Grandma Nellie's Mushroom Helda Romano Pole Indian Brown Garbanzo Jembo Polish Kentucky Wonder Pole Rattlesnake Red Noodle Swedish Brown Uncle Walt's Vermont Cranberry Waterloo County Mennonite

I'm going to cook them all together using a general recipe that can be used for all dried beans: Soak overnight, discard soaking water, cover with fresh water, bring to a boil, and simmer until they are soft and ready. Add sautéed onion, garlic, spices, and salt. Enjoy with rice or perhaps purée them to make a yummy soup.

Instead of boiling and simmering on the stovetop, one can also "save time" by using a pressure cooker or "Instant Pot". One advantage to cooking on the stovetop is that you can frequently and easily test for doneness.

Questions?