One of my favorite dishes to serve in the wintertime is Cranberry Bean Soup - nourishing and fragrant with fresh herbs. I place the steaming pot on the table and ladle the soup into bowls before breaking open a loaf of no-knead sourdough to serve with it.
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There’s nothing particularly fancy or complicated about the soup. It’s a straightforward pot of beans, heritage grain, and broth. Like most bean dishes, it’s mercifully light on the budget. But beyond filling bellies, this soup, brimming with creamy beans, fragrant herbs, and winter vegetables, offers deep nourishment.
What Are Cranberry Beans and Farro
Cranberry beans are plump, tan-colored beans riddled by deep maroon streaks. These heirloom beans are popular in Italian cooking, where they’re also known as Borlotti or Saluggia beans.
They have a creamy texture and delicate flavor that’s both earthy and nutty. Like many other pulses, Cranberry beans blend beautifully with rich flavors like cured pork, olive oil and herbs. Flavors that are both vibrant and rich tend to lighten and lift up the earthy flavor of beans.
Farro, like cranberry beans, is a food steeped in deep heritage. It’s an Italian word that identifies three varieties of heritage wheat: einkorn, spelt, and emmer. These grains are further clarified by terms like farro piccolo for einkorn, farro grande for spelt, and farro media for emmer.
Most farro you purchase in the U.S. is pearled or semi-pearled, which means part of its bran layer is gently rubbed away. This traditional practice makes grains easier to store and quicker to cook, and it also makes soaking them in advance unnecessary.
What Makes Cranberry Bean and Farro Soup Good for You
Pulses, like these Cranberry beans tend to feature prominently in the diets of some of the longest lived peoples on earth, and with good reason, too. They’re inexpensive, filling, and deeply nourishing. They’re particularly rich in fiber that helps to nourish a healthy gut microbiome. And when you prepare them properly, with a good soak overnight or by sprouting, they’re also a good source of various minerals like iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium as well as vitamins like thiamin, B6 and folate.
To make this Cranberry Bean and Farro Soup, you’ll also add plenty of nourishing, protein-rich bone broth which complements the amino acids in the beans for a fuller and more complete profile. Tomatoes, vegetables, and fresh herbs contribute plenty of micronutrients, like antioxidants, dietary fiber, and minerals that help to further amplify the goodness in this soup.
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Brushjl says
A cup of beans a day keeps the doctor away and this is a great way to do it. The Farro was a masterful stroke.
Frances says
If we do not have fresh thyme or sage, how much dry herbs we should add to the soup for flavor?
Cindy Chabot says
This soup is extremely good. I will definitely make it again. I used pinto beans (because I had them and not cranberry beans) and I removed the bacon bits after rendering the fat then added them back in at the end. After an overnight soak, I cooked the beans in an instant pot on high for 10 minutes with garlic and at least a tablespoon of Aleppo pepper (because it’s red and a beautiful mild paper). .
Susan says
I'm curious about something: I recently read that one should not put salt in the cooking water for beans because it makes them tough. Does salting them in the soaking water prevent them from getting tough from salt? I would definitely like to be able to salt beans because it would improve their flavor greatly.
Jenny says
No, salting the soak and cooking water won’t make your beans tough. Adding an acid, however, WILL make them tough which is why we cook the beans before adding them to the soup.
Amanda says
Hi Jenny, I have read before that salt shouldn't be added to beans until after they are cooked, because it can make them tough. But above you say to add sea salt and baking soda to the soak water. So adding sea salt to the soak water does not make them tough then?
Jenny says
No, salting the soak and cooking water won’t make your beans tough. Addung an acid, however, WILL make them tough which is why we cook the beans before adding them to the soup.