Ankara's Pink Treasure: Teberik Bean

Do you like kidney beans? Now imagine that the beans on your plate are adorned with shiny pink, speckled patterns! This is exactly the unique flavor of the famous "Teberik Bean," grown in the Akyurt district of Ankara. This bean is not only visually striking but also captivates everyone with its taste and texture. It is a centuries-old heritage seed, hidden in fields like a treasure. Let us explore the story of this special and delicious bean together.

The Teberik Bean is in fact a very special variety of barbunya (pinto) bean. It has bright pink and red speckles on its white skin, as if carefully painted by an artist, and is slightly larger than other barbunya beans. What makes it truly priceless is its status as an "heirloom seed." This means its seeds have been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years, unchanged and preserved as a family legacy. When cooked, its delicate skin softens quickly, giving it a creamy, almost custard-like consistency without ever breaking apart in the pot. This makes dishes prepared with it exceptionally flavorful.

The name "Teberik" may sound unusual, does it not? This mysterious word is in fact the ancient name of Büğdüz Village, which is part of the Akyurt district. The local people referred to this village as "Teberik" in their regional dialect. Because this delicious bean grows best and most beautifully in the soil of this village, it gradually became known as the "Teberik Bean" or "the Bean of Büğdüz Village." This name serves as a seal, showing how deeply rooted the bean is in this land. It is not merely a bean—it carries the history of a place within its name.

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Cultivating this precious bean requires great effort and patience. The heirloom seeds are carefully planted in the soil in May and left to grow under the summer sun. When August and September arrive, the harvest festival begins. Neighbors typically work together using the "imece" system—helping one another—to enter the fields and hand-pick each valuable bean. After harvesting, the beans are dried in the sun, and their beautiful pink grains are then ready to adorn the most flavorful winter dishes. A fragrant meaty dried bean stew or olive oil–based pilaki made with this bean is the star of Akyurt’s dining tables.

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