Creamy Rio Zape Bean Dip

This week’s bean dish is an appetizer for the Super Bowl party we are going to this afternoon.

I doubled the recipe on this Rio Zape bean dip from Rancho Gordo:

Rio Zape-Felicidad Heirloom Bean Dip Recipe – Rancho Gordo

This Rancho Gordo Rio Zape Bean Dip appetizer recipe blends our heirloom beans and spicy Rancho Gordo Felicidad Hot Sauce.

www.ranchogordo.com

I’ve made a couple different recipes with Rio Zape beans, and they are the tastiest bean varietal I’ve tried so far. Velvety texture and a pinto-y flavor with hints of coffee and chocolate.

From Rancho Gordo:

In 1935, Rio Zape beans (also known as Hopi String beans), were found in the Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings of the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Then, in the 1960s, archaeologists found them in the excavation of a sealed tomb in Rio Zape, Durango, Mexico. It’s believed that the beans were sealed in the tomb around 600 AD. A beautiful bean with a mysterious history!

I added Mexican-style chorizo, but I think it would completely stand alone without it.

As an aside, I’m starting to get the hang of cooking dried beans on the stove and reducing the pot liquor down to keep that flavor.

We are serving this with tortilla chips.

Early sampling at home is showing this to be a very tasty dip, probably one that we’ll make again in the future, perhaps in a vegetarian or vegan variant, depending on whose house we are going to.