Lupini as Ancestral Holiday Food:
I was looking for a plant-based low-carb (don’t get me started) protein option & found that lupini beans fit the bill. Just 1 cup of lupini beans is a high source of protien, fibre, and vitamins K, C, and potassium.
These beans were a regular staple on the holiday snack table in my childhood home. If you haven’t experienced them, they have a sweet, nutty flavour, and they’re fun to eat! Squeezing the brined beans out of their skins to pop into my mouth gave me childhood glee.
My mom always bought canned lupini, but when I couldn’t find any in cans, I secured a bag of dried lupini from our local Italian grocery store.
Little did I know that preparing dried lupini for consumption a long, labourious process. Unprocessed lupini contain high levels of alkaloids, making them toxic & giving them a bitter taste (nature’s safety warning) Dry lupini need to be soaked and rinsed for WEEKS and when the alkaloids have leeched out in the rinse water, the beans are ready to be brined and eatern. A taste test tells you when the bitterness is gone
I have been tending to my lupini for weeks now and they still have a slight bitter taste. They should be ready to use as a Solstice holiday snack.
I feel connected to my ancestry and lineage and am flooded with happy childhood memories tending to my lupini jar. I wonder if the taste will live up to my memories; and I wonder if my non-Italian family will enjoy them. Maybe it’s an Italian thing?
Intentional Holidays in the Kin Keepers’ Haven is a space for sharing traditional holiday foods and ancestral practices. We gather weekly through the month of December to set intentions, celebrate and grieve collectively, share stories and traditions, and more.
Our first call was December 6, but if you feel called to join us, the recorded session is available for you to review.
A $30 monthly subscription that you can cancel and resume any time gives you access to the community care space.
My cohost Trevia (Tree-va) Woods and I would love to see you there!
A note from your hosts Trevia Woods and Janine Bertolo: We are creating a co-creating a space that centers healing from misogyny and working towards a future where we can have spaces that can include all people without harm.
This is multigenerational transformation. This is a brave space for those who have been most harmed by misogyny to do the work of reclaiming our authenticity and dismantling all forms of oppression.
Do you identify as a cisgendered man? Please email us at kinkeepershaven@gmail.com with other options to work with us one on one.