Bean growers try fresh-frozen option

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – A group of local farmers is supplying a fresh twist on a traditional crop.

The growers are feeding a growing market for fresh garbanzo beans. About 1,000 acres are under cultivation for the produce, said Ron Filan, one of the farmers involved. Growers say this is the first year beans for the fresh market have been grown and harvested in the Walla Walla Valley.

Unlike past crops harvested as dried beans, these garbanzos are immediately trucked to a hydrocooling facility at Walla Walla Regional Airport, where they are chilled to 36 degrees. The beans are then hauled by refrigerated trucks to a plant in Ellensburg, where they are cleaned, cooked and frozen for sale nationwide.

“We’re excited about it,” said Ryan Davenport of Clearwater Country Foods, the Lewiston-based production company that has contracted with the farmers to grow the beans. “Bringing a new product on is a challenge, but we’re optimistic.”