Protein Crops: Man can’t survive on bread alone, man can’t survive on anything alone. Man needs a varied and nutritious diet to get through the day. And if Man is doing farmwork out in the field all day trying to figure out how to get a rotting log out of Man’s field, Man will certainly need some muscle mass and therefore protein. These crops are options for high protein foods and I’ll be calculating these by the normal daily amount of protein needed for a human per day at 50 grams. This section will be for crops that don’t grow into trees or happen to be animals. Anything meant to be grown on a small scale goes on this list. Most guides to homesteading I’ve read have recommended growing 3 types of legumes/beans on a farm for variety and crop rotating different fields.
Common Beans: These are the traditional beans we might think of when a dish calls for beans. Most of them are grown relatively the same way and have somewhat similar yields.
Black Beans: Often called black turtle beans, these beans are familiar to anyone making tacos. At 2000 - 2500 lbs per acre yield is roughly 55lbs of beans per 1000 sq ft. That’s 5777 grams of protein, per 1000 sqft harvest. Or 115 man days of protein, assuming black beans made up all of the protein in a person's diet.
Pinto Beans: Often refried into a can shaped block of mush, also familiar to those who make tacos. For North Dakoda yields, the average looks about 1500-2000lbs per acre. Per 1000 square feet that’s 39-40lbs of beans. With 1lb of dry pinto beans producing 94grams of protein, that’s 3713 grams of protein per 1000square feet. That’s 74 Man days of protein per 1000 square feet.
Red Kidney Beans: A critical ingredient in a good amount of creol/cajun recipes. Red beans seem to produce at about 2500lbs per acre for a good year but averages 1500-2000. That’s 39-40lbs of beans per 1000 square feet. At 108grams of protein per dry pound of beans that’s 4295grams of protein per 1000 square feet or roughly 85 man days of protein.
White/Navy Beans: Traditional ingredient in white chili and British morning beans on toast. Yields look about 2000-2500 pounds per acre with a peak of around 2700lbs. Per 1000square feet that’s about 51lbs of dry beans. At 94.5grams of protein per dry pound, that’s 4800grams of protein total or roughly 96 man days of protein. I recommend trying to make traditional beans on toast before growing these.
Green Beans: Like many people grow in their garden. Sometimes known as French, string or snap beans, these are unlike most of the beans on this list as these are meant to be kept inside the pod after harvesting for the overwhelming majority of recipes. This means that they’re not traditionally dried individually but can instead be canned inside the pod for preservation. Additionally this bean grows quickly(45-60 days) due to the fact that this species is harvested immature traditionally. For the pole bean variety (not bush bean) the yield looks to be around 6000-7200lbs per acre or roughly 150lbs per 1000square feet. The downside is a much lower caloric and protein density, with 1lb of green beans offering only 8.26 grams of protein. That means 150lbs is 1240 grams of protein or roughly 25 man days of protein. An interesting crop to be sure, good yields, hard to preserve, bad for a primary protein source. Grow them if you like them.
Lentils: Small, mighty and full of protein. At 1000 - 1500 lbs per acre letail yield is roughly 33lbs per 1000 square feet. That 33lbs of lentils provides 3466 grams of protein which is 69 man days of protein provided nothing but lentils were eaten. I recommend making a dish of lentil daal before deciding whether or not to grow this.
Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans: My Personal favorite due to being the main ingredient in hummus. At 1700 - 2500lbs of chickpeas per acre is roughly 55lbs of beans per 1000 sq ft. That’s 5445 grams of protein per 1000 square feet or 108 man days of protein. That’s a lot of hummus to make.
Peanuts: The main ingredient in peanut butter, and in more sandwiches I eat than I care to admit. At 3000 - 4000 lbs per acre they produce 88lbs per 1000 square feet. That’s 10,488 grams of protein per 1000 sq ft or roughly 209 man days of protein. It may be difficult to survive off nearly only peanuts, but my younger self would not agree.
Soy: Inside everything from tofu to milk, and with good reason. Soy averages at 3000lbs per acre at 513,066 grams of protein per acre. That’s roughly 11,401 grams per 1000 square feet, or 228 man days of protein. This is by far the best value on this list for protein, and leads me to believe I should start making tofu from scratch.
Soy Milk: To make soymilk, there are many different recipes. But in essence all that is required is to use pre soaked soybeans. Then add by volume 3 units of high purity water for every 1 unit of soybeans (measured when dry as they’ll absorb water when soaked). Combine these in a blender or food processor and macerate these until they’ve turned into a thick and creamy liquid. Remove the solids via filter or cheesecloth and make sure to press out as much of the absorbed liquid as possible. Then pasteurize the liquid by heating on a stovetop for 20 minutes, and that produces soymilk.
Tofu: This requires a bit more work than soymilk. But to make tofu, heat up a container of soy milk via stove top until it begins to thicken. Then add one teaspoon nigari (or alternatively ½ cup lime juice or other suitable coagulant) per 4 cups of soymilk. Heat and stir this mixture until curds are formed, then pour the mixture into a cheesecloth or alternative in order to collect the curds. Place this bag of curds into a press (similar to making cheese) and apply weight to press the water out. Once all the water is out, cold water can be added to the degree wished to firm the tofu block (note to cook tofu like meat, expel all the water possible before cooking) and then you have a block of tofu.
Peas: In a pod, but for the sake of math we’ll be taking them out. Not the most impressive crop on this list at 1200-2000 pounds per acre or roughly 44lbs per 1000square feet. So 44lbs of peas will net 4800 grams of protein or roughly 96 man days of protein. Not great, but some people like peas.
Fava/Broad Beans: Most famous dish is a reference to cannibalism by Hannibal Lecter. Luckily they can be used in more than just cannibalism related recipes. Often used as a cover crop so this bean can serve a dual use, according to an old clipping expected yields are roughly 2200-2400lbs of bears per acre for small seeded varieties. That’s 52lbs per 1000 square feet and at 118grams of protein per pound that’s 6136 gram of protein total. Making roughly 122 man days of protein. Now time to find actual recipes for this that don’t link to Hannibal lecter.
Chia Seeds: Good for things other than making oddly growing sculptures bought as white elephant gifts. Surprisingly it’s used as an egg substitute by many people in many dishes. At 300-400 Kilograms harvester per acre, that’s 770 pounds per acre or 17.5 lbs per square feet. At 75 grams of protein per pound that’s 1312 grams total, or 26 man days of protein. Not the most impressive crop on this list, but I’m surprised a plant I relegated to being a gag gift could do this well stacked against others.
Ground nuts (not peanuts): A perennial protein crop that isn’t with the nut trees. It’s easier to go by its scientific name when looking it up (apios americana) due to it often being confused for peanuts. Produces both edible seeds and tubers with the tubers being the main article of focus as they have over 3 times the protein content of potatoes. The only downsides appear to be it’s lack of cooperation in large scale agriculture, but for small scale it seems to work perfectly fine. When grown with cranberries and harvested after 2-3 years, yields of 30 tons per hectare are possible. That’s roughly 560lbs per 1000square feet. At roughly 116grams of protein per lb, that means each 1000 square feet of harvest can generatore 1300 man days of food. Insanely great numbers, just a shame it can only be harvested every 2-3 years. This is a great plant to include in any garden and I highly recommend it.
Pigeon Peas: A perennial sort of lentil like crop. While it’s often grown as a perennial in southern climates (usda zone 9 and higher) it can still grow as an annual in northern climates. This plant can live up to around 5 years, grow in poor conditions, and get’s to about 6-12 feet tall and nearly 4ft wide, turning into practically a small tree. The only downside is the time it takes to grow, with many varieties needing up to 300 days. So if growing this as an annual expect it to take up the entire growing season. However yields of up to 30 bushes an acre are possible with this crop, at 60lbs per bushel, expect 1800lbs per acre. That’s about 41lbs per 1000 square feet, (note the nutritional value of dry pigeon peas seems to change often but I’m including the most common result) 1lb of dry pigeon peas seem to average about 21grams of protein. That’s 861grams of protein per 1000 square feet, or about 17 man days of protein. An interesting crop that seems as if it would be good for a low effort semi tropical garden.
Nutritional Yeast (Nooch): Familiar to vegans and not many other people. This is essentially the stuff found in small packets of bread yeast sold in grocery stores. It’s also extremely healthy, full of B vitamins and protein, and can serve well in many recipes that call for parmesan cheese (such as popcorn or pizza). To grow nutritional yeast it’s similar to making wine. Begin with a starter culture of yeast and place in a large sanitized jug/bucket with an airlock/bubbler. Feed the yeast culture by giving it glucose rich foods that can easily be poured inside the container. Beet syrup and sugarcane appear to be popular feedstuffs. I can't actually find what the expected yields are per lb of glucose added, so I’ll have to experiment personally and come back to update this. Once the yeast culture has grown and all the glucose has been consumed (bubbler has stopped bubbling) go ahead and collect the sediment at the bottom. Wash the sediment in clean water, taking care not to pour the yeast down the drain and then cook the yeast slightly on a frying pan until golden brown. And that’s all that’s needed to make nutritional yeast.
Brewer’s Yeast (Marmite): That little bit of sediment found at the bottom of homebrew and micro beer. That goop is also a yeast and is also capable of being eaten (when being cooked down) the only downside is that the leftover brewer’s yeast is often fairly bitter due to the presence of bitter hops in most beer recipes. Still it can be made edible. This is what marmite in Britain and vegemite in Australia is made out of. To make this, collect the yeast out of a beer that’s being racked and collect the yeasty sediment at the bottom. I have no idea if wine, cider, or mead yeasts can be used, but I cannot find any information on this. Anyone once the yeast is collected the bitterness can be brought down by adding water to the mix, mixing, waiting for the yeast to settle, then scooping the water out without disturbing the yeast much. This leaches the bitters out. Then boil down the mixture, add 1 part (by weight) old bread per 8 parts of yeast to give a marmite flavor, add 1 part mirepoix or holy trinity vegetable mixture per 8 parts yeast to make vegemite. Boil this mixture until it turns into a thick brown paste, and that's the brewer's yeast. I recommend adding it to cheese sandwiches or soups to kick the flavor up a notch, but use sparingly.
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