Finally! Some cold weather! We've pouted over this winter's heat, which has prevented us from cooking our favorite seasonal dishes. High up on the list of foods we would've made? Beans. Just imagine: Slow-cooked onions, beans, maybe a bit of bay leaf for an aromatic component, maybe a bit of salt pork or bacon for a rich meatiness? Is there anything more soul-filling? (Yes, we know about bean salad, but that's not what we're in the mood for.)

As soon as the weather presented a semblance of winter, we headed straight for the Rancho Gordo stall at the Saturday Ferry Plaza Market, where Steve Sando sells his excellent dried beans, explaining the varieties in fast-paced speech while he tosses in recipe ideas and anecdotes.

Sando's passion for his product is obvious when you see the vast array of different beans he carries. "I get obsessive about things," he confesses, "And I really, really love beans." That love took off when he began exploring New World foods after a stint selling tomatoes. He realized that the universe of beans was much larger than he originally knew, and he started growing and selling them out of his warehouse and at farmer's markets. He hunted down heirloom breeds in his travels to Mexico, and brought them to California, where growers in the Delta plant and harvest the rare legumes for him. ("I'm not really a good grower," he confides).

Photos by Melissa Schneider

So don't look for red kidney beans on his tables. Instead, keep an eye out for flageolets, runner cannellini, Vermont cranberry, or wren's egg beans, among others. Because these breeds are so scarce, he doesn't require organic practices from his farmers. "We don't do preventive spraying," he explains, "But a lot of these breeds are on the verge of extinction, so if they need help I'll give it."

Aside from the interesting flavors in his beans, Sando points to their freshness. "You hear horror stories of beans that are ten years old," he says of the Red Kidneys you might find at Safeway, "But all of mine are less than a year old." Beans past their prime get turned into a popular feature of Sando's stall, a tub full of beans with a sign urging people to touch them. "Go ahead—you know you want to," it invites.

We were surprised to hear Sando say that dried beans intimidate many shoppers, but he soothes nervous customers with some basic cooking instructions: Soak beans in water for four to six hours, cook with some chopped onion in simmering water until tender, usually about an hour or two. "It's pretty hard to screw up a pot of beans," he promises. We put his flageolets under some home made duck confit, and we are eagerly eyeing the bag of runner cannellini sitting on our counter.

Though Sando made his name with beans, he's started to sell other New World ingredients, a topic that continues to inspire him. Quinoa, pozole (called hominy in the U.S.), corn tortillas made by a local Mexican family, dried chiles, and, most recently, hot sauce can all be found at his stand. We're hoping to cook up some pozole soon and garnish it with piment d'espelette. No matter what your tastes, we're sure you'll find something new to try at his stall. And if you can't make it to the farmer's market, you can order directly from his website or find his products at a select few local stores.