Great Northern Beans

Great Northern Beans: Nutrition and Complete Guide

Great Northern beans are large, white, oval beans — slightly larger than navy beans but smaller than cannellini — one of the most important dried beans in American cooking. They have a mild, nutty flavour and hold their shape well during cooking, making them preferred in soups, cassoulet-style preparations, and baked bean dishes where the visual integrity of individual beans is important. In the American Midwest and South, Great Northern beans are frequently used in ham and bean soup — simmered with a ham hock until the beans are very tender and the broth is silky and rich — and in Senate bean soup, the legendary preparation served in the US Senate dining room daily since 1903. Their name reflects their origin in the northern United States, where they were grown widely as a staple crop throughout the nineteenth century.

Nutritional Value and Cooking

Dried Great Northern beans provide 339 kcal and 21.9 g of protein per 100 g, with 60.2 g of carbohydrates and 20.2 g of fibre. They provide folate, thiamine, manganese, iron, phosphorus, and copper. Cooked: approximately 118 kcal and 8.3 g protein per 100 g. Soak overnight, simmer forty-five to sixty minutes. For ham and bean soup: simmer soaked Great Northerns with a ham hock, onion, celery, and carrots for two to three hours until beans are very tender and the soup is thickened. Season generously. Excellent as a white bean substitute in any Italian recipe calling for cannellini.