Portland Culinary Alliance

A small but enthusiastic crowd came to Oregon Culinary Institute last Wednesday to hear Anthony Boutard talk about the legumes he grows at Ayers Creek Farm. The OCI again graciously allowed us use of a classroom for our monthly program. After the program, we adjourned to the student-operated restaurant for dinner.

Anthony and his wife, Carol, moved to Oregon from Massachusetts so the Yale-trained forester could work for 1000 Friends of Oregon. They got hooked on gardening with a small community garden plot in Portland. Later they moved to Gaston, where they started their large, organic farm. The Boutards supply some of the top restaurants in Portland with produce and grains. From July on, you’ll find them every Sunday at the Hillsdale Farmers Market.

Anthony had prepared a slide show and also brought along a tray whose many compartments were filled with some of the myriad varieties of legumes grown at the farm. He spoke about each one of the beans, offering cooking and growing suggestions. He also talked about the origins of each bean and its traditional uses. For example, fenugreek, sometimes called Greek hay, was once added to moldy hay in order to prolong its usefulness.

As the tray was passed around the OCI classroom, everyone was quite taken by the enticing fragrance emanating from the hard little kernels of fenugreek. After speaking, when Anthony allowed everyone to scoop up legumes for growing in their own gardens, nearly everyone took the fenugreek.

We also learned something about the physiological effects of legumes. Anthony told us that dried beans shouldn’t be eaten after a year, but after only six months the enzymes won’t break down properly, making them hard to digest. The result is flatulence. Solution: buy beans when relatively young, preferably from a reliable supplier — Ayers Creek Farm — at the Hillsdale Farmers Market.