Bean

From New World Encyclopedia
Green beans


Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several members of the Legume family (Fabaceae, formerly Leguminosae) used for food or feed. The various species of bean plants include some of the very first plants cultivated by man in both the Old and the New Worlds. They have been and continue to be an important part of the human food supply.

Name

"Bean" originally meant the seed of the broad bean, but was later broadened to include members of the genus Phaseolus such as the common bean and the runner bean and the related genus Vigna. The term is now applied in a general way to many other related plants such as soybeans, peas, lentils, vetches and lupines.

"Bean" can be used as a near synonym of "pulse", an edible legume, though the term "pulses" is usually reserved for leguminous crops harvested for their dry grain. Pulses usually excludes crops mainly used for oil extraction (like soybean and peanut) or those used exclusively for forage (like clover and alfalfa). Leguminous crops harvested green for food like snap beans, green peas etc. are classified as vegetable crops.

In English usage beans sometimes also refer to seeds or other organs of non leguminosae, for example coffee beans, castor beans and cocoa beans (which resemble bean seeds), and vanilla beans (which resemble the pods).

Old World beans

In the Old World beans were first cultivated in the Middle East perhaps around as 10,000 years ago. Along with their fellow legumes the pea Pisum sativum and the bitter vetch Vicia ervilia; these were the broad bean Vicia faba, the lentil Lens culinaris (not always called a bean), the chickpea Cicer arietinum. The soybean Glycine max was also cultivated very early in China.

Broad beans

Vicia faba, the broad bean, fava bean, faba bean, horse bean, field bean or tic bean is native to north Africa and southwest Asia, and extensively cultivated elsewhere. Although usually classified in the same genus Vicia as the vetches, some botanists treat it in a separate monotypic genus as Faba sativa Moench.

The broad bean plant is upright 0.5-1.7 meters (2-5 feet) tall, with stout stems with a square cross-section. The leaves are 10-25 cm (4-10 inches) long with 2-7 leaflets, and of a gray-green color. Unlike most other vetches, the leaves do not have tendrils for climbing over other vegetation. The flowers are 1-2.5 cm (0.4-1 inches) long, with five petals, the standard petal white, the wing petals white with a black spot, and the keel petals white. The fruit is a broad leathery pod, green maturing blackish-brown, with a densely downy surface. In the wild species, the pods are 5-10 cm (2-4 inches) long and 1 cm (0.4 inches) diameter, but many modern cultivars developed for food use have pods 15-25 cm long (6-10 inches) and 2-3 cm (about an inch) thick. Each pod contains 3-8 seeds; round to oval and 5-10 mm (0.2-0.4 inches) in diameter in the wild plant, usually flattened and up to 20-25 mm (0.8-1.2 inches) long, 15 mm (0.6 inches) broad and 5-10 mm (0.2-0.4 inches) thick in food cultivars.

Broad beans require a cool season to develop best and in some places are sown in fall as a winter crop and harvested in spring.

Broad beans were an important crop throughout ancient and Medieval times. In ancient Rome they began to be cultivated to feed livestock as well as for humans. In recent times they have become less important as a human food and are mainly grown for animal feed. China is the largest grower

Broad bean plant

Lentils

File:180px-Illustration Lens culinaris0.jpg
Illustration of the lentil plant, 1885

The lentil (Lens culinaris) is a brushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about 40cm tall and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. The plant originated in the Near East, and has been part of the human diet since the aceramic Neolithic, being one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East. With 25% protein it is the vegetable with the highest level of protein other than soybeans, and because of this it is a very important part of the diet in many parts of the world, and especially South Asia which has a large vegetarian population.

A variety of lentils exist with colors that range from yellow to red-orange to green, brown and black. The colours of the seeds when removed from the pods also vary, and there are large and small varieties. They are sold in many forms, with or without the pods, whole or split.


The seeds have a short cooking time (especially for small varieties with the husk removed, such as the common red lentil) and a distinctive earthy flavor. Lentils are used to prepare an inexpensive and nutritious soup all over Europe and North America, sometimes combined with some form of pork. They are frequently combined with rice, which has a similar cooking time. Lentils are used throughout the Mediterranean regions and the Middle East.

In South Asia, lentils are known as dal, as are most sorts of dried legumes. The dishes made predominantly of lentils are also known as dal.

Lentils are relatively tolerant to drought and are grown throughout the world. About half of the worldwide production of lentils is from India, most of which is consumed in the domestic market. Canada is the largest export producer of lentils in the world and Saskatchewan is the most important producing region in Canada. Whereas, Eastern Washington (especially the Palouse Region) is the most important producing region in the United States. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that world production of lentils totalled 3.2 million metric tons (MT) in 2003. Canada produced 520,000 MT and, according to the market analysis company STAT Communications, will likely export 400,000 MT during the 2003-04 marketing year, which runs from August to July. The FAO estimates world trade in lentils totalled 1.2 million MT in 2002, with Canada exporting 382,000 MT during the calendar year.

A famous variety of small green lentils known for their earthy flavor is grown in Le Puy, France. These Le Puy lentils (lentilles du Puy) were the first dry vegetable protected by the French AOC (Appelation d'Origine Controlée) designation.

Trivia

The optical lens is so named after the lentil (Latin: lens), whose shape it resembles. The same applies also to Greek language, where the word φακός means lens and φακή means lentil.

Nutritional value

As well as a high level of proteins, lentils also contain dietary fiber, vitamin B1, and minerals. Red (or pink) lentils contain a lower concentration of fiber than green lentils (11% rather than 31%).

References
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Chickpeas

The chickpea, chick pea, garbanzo bean, ceci bean, bengal gram, chana or channa (Cicer arietinum) is an edible legume (British " pulse") of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae.

The plant is 20 to 50 cm high and has small feathery leaves on both sides of the stem. One seedpod contains two or three peas. The flowers are white- or reddish-blue. Chickpeas need a subtropical or tropical climate and more than 400 mm annual rain. They can be grown in a temperate climate, but yields will be much lower.

Desi vs. kabuli chickpeas

There are two types of chickpea:

  • Desi - "with small, dark seeds and a rough coat (prevailing in the Indian subcontinent, Ethiopia, Mexico, Iran)"
  • Kabuli- "with light-coloured, larger seeds and a smoother coat (mainly grown in S Europe, N Africa, Afghanistan, introduced to India only in the 18th cent., Chile)."[[1]]

The Desi form is also known as Bengal gram or chana. The Kabuli form is the kind grown e.g. in the Mediterranean today. The desi-type closely resembles those seeds found on archaeological sites and the wild ancestor, so it is probably the earlier form. Desi-type chickpeas are said to have a very low glycemic index[2] making it good for many people with blood sugar problems.


Cultivation and uses

The chickpea is grown in the Mediterranean, western Asia and India. The wild ancestor of domesticated chickpeas is Cicer reticulatum. As this only grows in southeast Turkey, this is the most likely locus of domestication.

Mature chickpeas can be eaten in salads, cooked in stews, ground into a flour called gram flour (also known as besan, and used in Indian cuisine), ground and shaped in balls and fried as falafel, stirred into a batter and baked to make farinata, cooked and ground into a paste called hummus, or roasted, spiced and eaten as a snack (e.g. leblebi). In India, where they are referred to as "chana," chickpeas provide a major source of protein in a predominantly vegetarian culture. Chickpea flour is also used to make "Burmese tofu," a food originating with the Shan people of Burma. Unripe chickpeas are often picked out of the pod and eaten as a raw snack in many parts of India, and the plants are eaten there as a green vegetable in salads.

History of cultivation

Domesticated chickpeas are first known from the aceramic levels of Jericho (PPNB) and Cayönü in Turkey and the pottery Neolithic in Hacilar, Turkey. They are found in the late Neolithic in Thessaly, at Kastanas, Lerna and Dimini at ca. 3500 B.C.E. In the southern French cave of L'Abeurador Dept., Aude, wild chickpeas have been found in Mesolithic layers, dated by radiocarbon dating to 6790±90 B.C.E.

By the Bronze Age, they were known in Italy and Greece. In classical Greece, they were called erébinthos, eaten both as a staple and as a dessert, and consumed raw when young. The Romans knew of several varieties, for example venus, ram and punic chickpeas. They were cooked into a broth and roasted as a snack. The Roman gourmet Apicius gives several recipes for chickpeas. Carbonised chickpeas have been found at the Roman legionary fort at Neuss (Novaesium), Germany in layers of the 1st century CE, along with rice.

Chickpeas are mentioned in Charlemagne's Capitulare de villis (ca. 800 C.E.) as cicer italicum, to be grown in each imperial demesne. Albertus Magnus mentions three varieties: red, white, and black. According to Culpeper, "chick-pease or cicers" are less "windy" than peas and more nourishing. Placed under the dominion of Venus, they offered a number of medical uses, including increasing sperm and milk, provoking menstruation and urine, and helping to treat kidney stones. Wild cicers were thought to be especially potent.

Chickpeas were grown in some areas of Germany for use as a coffee substitute in the First World War.

Etymology

The name "chickpea" derives eventually from the Latin name cicer through the French chiche. The name Cicero is derived from this plant. "Garbanzo" is from the Spanish language, an alteration (perhaps influenced by Old Spanish garroba or algarroba) of the Old Spanish arvanço, perhaps from Greek erebinthos.[3]

Nutrition

Among other things, they are a good source of zinc for the human body.[4]

They are also very high in dietary fiber.

Trivia

It has been suggested (among other explanations) that the chickenpox disease gets its name from chick peas, which resembled the chickenpox blisters that appeared on the skin.

Soybeans

The Soybean (U.S.) or Soya bean (UK) (Glycine max) is a species of legume, native to eastern Asia. It is an annual plant, which may vary in growth habit and height. It may grow prostrate, not growing above 20 cm (7.8 inches); up to stiffly erect plants growing to 2 meters (6.5 feet). The pods, stems, and leaves are covered with fine brown or gray pubescence. The leaves are trifoliate (sometimes with 5 leaflets), the leaflets 6-15 cm (2-6 inches) long and 2-7 cm (1-3 inches) broad; they fall before the seeds are mature. The small, inconspicuous, self-fertile flowers are borne in the axil of the leaf and are either white or purple; The fruit is a hairy pod that grow in clusters of 3-5, with each pod 3-8 cm (1-3 inches) long and usually containing 2-4 (rarely more) seeds 5-11 mm in diameter.

Like corn and some other crops of long domestication, the relationship of the modern soybean to wild-growing species can no longer be traced with any degree of certainty. It is a cultural variety (a cultigen) with a very large number of cultivars. However, it is known that the progenitor of the modern soybean was a vine-like plant, that grew prone on the ground.

Beans are classed as pulses whereas soybeans are classed as oilseeds. The word soy is derived from the Japanese word shoyu (soy sauce/soya sauce).

Physical characteristics

Soybeans occur in various sizes, and in several hull or seed coat colors, including black, brown, blue, yellow, and mottled. The hull of the mature bean is hard, water resistant, and protects the cotyledon and hypocotyl (or "germ") from damage. If the seed coat is "cracked" the seed will not germinate. The scar, visible on the seed coat, is called the hilum (colors include black, brown, buff, gray and yellow) and at one end of the hilum is the micropyle, or small opening in the seed coat which can allow the absorption of water.

It is a remarkable fact that seeds such as soybeans, containing very high levels of soy protein, can undergo desiccation yet survive and revive after water absorption. A.Carl Leopold, son of Aldo Leopold, set out twenty years ago to answer this very question at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University. Studying the survival of soybeans and corn he found each to have a range of soluble sugars carbohydrate protecting the seed's cell viability.[5]. Patents were awarded to him in the early 1990s on techniques for protecting "biological membranes" and proteins in the dry state.

Chemical composition of the seed

The oil and protein content together account for about 60% of dry soybeans by weight; protein at 40% and oil at 20%. The remainder consists of 35% carbohydrate and about 5% ash. Soybean cultivars comprise approximately 8% seed coat or hull, 90% cotyledons and 2% hypocotyl axis or germ.

The majority of soy protein is a relatively heat-stable storage protein. It is this heat-stability of the soy protein that enables soy food products requiring high temperature cooking, such as tofu, soymilk and textured vegetable protein(soy flour) to be made.

The principal soluble carbohydrates, saccharides, of mature soybeans are the disaccharide sucrose(range 2.5-8.2%), the trisaccharide raffinose( 0.1-1.0%) composed of one sucrose molecule connected to one molecule of galactose, and the tetrasaccharide stachyose(1.4 to 4.1%) composed of one sucrose connected to two molecules of galactose. While the oligosaccharides raffinose and stachyose protect the viability of the soybean seed from desiccation{see above section on physical characteristics} they are not digestable sugars and therefore contribute to flatulence and abdominal discomfort in humans and other monogastric animals. Undigested oligosaccharides are broken down in the intestine by native microbes producing gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen, nitrogen, methane, etc.

Soluble soy carbohydrates are found mainly in the whey and are broken down during fermentation, soy concentrate, soy protein isolates, tofu, soy sauce, and sprouted soybeans are without flatus activity. On the other hand, there maybe some beneficial effects to ingesting oligosaccharides such as raffinose and stachyose, namely, encouraging indigenous bifidobacteria in the colon against putrefactive bacteria.

The insoluble carbohydrates in soybeans consist of the complex polysaccharides cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. The majority of soybean carbohydrates can be classed as belonging to dietary fiber.

Cultivation

Varieties of soybeans are used for many purposes.

Soybeans are an important global crop. It is grown for its oil and protein. The bulk of the crop is solvent extracted for vegetable oil and the defatted soy meal is used for animal feed. A very small proportion of the crop is consumed directly for food by humans. Soybean products, however, appear in a large variety of processed foods.

Soybeans have been a crucial crop in eastern Asia since long before written records, and they are still a major crop in China, Korea, and Japan today. Soy was not actaully used as a food item until they discovered fermentation techniques around 2000 years ago. Prior to fermented products such as soy sauce, tempeh, natto,and miso, soy was considered sacred for it's use in crop rotation as a method of fixing nitrogen. The plants would be plowed under to clear the field for food crops.{citation needed} Soy was first introduced to Europe in the early 1700s and the United States in 1765, where it was first grown for hay. Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter in 1770 mentioning sending soybeans home from England. Soybeans did not become an important crop outside of Asia until about 1910. In America, soy was considered an industrial productonly and not utilized as a food prior to the 1920's.

Cultivation is successful in climates with hot summers, with optimum growing conditions in mean temperatures of 20 °C to 30 °C (68°F to 86°F); temperatures of below 20 °C and over 40 °C (68 °F, 104 °F) retard growth significantly. They can grow in a wide range of soils, with optimum growth in moist alluvial soils with a good organic content. Soybeans, like most legumes perform nitrogen fixation by establishing a symbiotic relationship with the bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum (syn. Rhizobium japonicum; Jordan 1982). However, for best results an inoculum of the correct strain of bacteria should be mixed with the soybean (or any legume) seed before planting. Modern crop cultivars generally reach a height of around 1 m (3 ft), and take between 80-120 days from sowing to harvesting.


Soybeans are native to southeast Asia, but 45 percent of the world's soybean area, and 55 percent of production, is in the United States. The U.S. produced 75 million metric tons of soybeans in 2000, of which more than one-third was exported. Other leading producers are Brazil, Argentina, China, and India.

Environmental groups, such as Greenpeace and the WWF, have reported that soybean cultivation and the threat to increase soybean cultivation in Brazil is destroying huge areas of Amazon rainforest and encouraging deforestation. Besides destruction of the rainforest, it destroys unique biodiversity and causes a billion dollar's loss on technology from bionics revenue. American soil scientist, Dr. Andrew McClung, who first showed that the infertile Cerrado region of Brazil could grow soybeans will be awarded the 2006 World Food Prize on October 19,2006.[6]

The first research on soybeans in the United States was conducted by George Washington Carver at Tuskegee, Alabama, but he decided it was too exotic a crop for the poor black farmers of the South so he turned his attention to peanuts. Peanuts, soybeans, or other legume plants that would replenish the soil with nitrogen and minerals were planted for two years and then cotton on the third year. A two-year rotation system alternating maize and soybeans is common in much of the U.S.

Uses

Soybeans can be broadly classified as "vegetable" (garden) or field (oil) types. Vegetable types cook more easily, have a mild nutty flavor, better texture, are larger in size, higher in protein, and lower in oil than field types. Tofu and soymilk producers prefer the higher protein cultivars bred from vegetable soybeans originally brought to the United States in the late 1930s. The "garden" cultivars are generally not suitable for mechanical combine harvesting because they have a tendency for the pods to shatter on reaching maturity.

Among the legumes, the soybean, also classed as an oilseed, is pre-eminent for its high (38-45%) protein content as well as its high (20%) oil content. Soybeans are the leading agricultural export in the United States. The bulk of the soybean crop is grown for oil production, with the high-protein defatted and "toasted" soy meal used as livestock feed. A smaller percentage of soybeans are used directly for human consumption.

Soybeans may be boiled whole in their green pod and served with salt, under the Japanese name edamame. Soybeans prepared this way are a popular local snack in Hawai'i, where, as in China, Japan, and Korea the bean and products made from the bean (miso, natto, tofu, douchi, doenjang, ganjang and others) are a popular part of the diet.

The beans can be processed in a variety of ways. Common forms of soy (or soya) include soy meal, soy flour, "soy milk", tofu, textured vegetable protein (TVP, which is made into a wide variety of vegetarian foods, some of them intended to imitate meat), tempeh, soy lecithin and soybean oil. Soybeans are also the primary ingredient involved in the production of soy sauce (or shoyu).

Soybeans grow throughout Asia and North and South America.

Oil

In processing soybeans for oil extraction and subsequent soy flour production, selection of high quality, sound, clean, dehulled yellow soybeans is very important. Soybeans having a dark colored seed coat, or even beans with a dark hilum will inadvertently leave dark specks in the flour, an undesirable factor when used in food products. All commercial soybeans in the United States are yellow or yellow brown.

To produce soybean oil, the soybeans are cracked, adjusted for moisture content, rolled into flakes and solvent-extracted with commercial hexane. The oil is then refined, blended for different applications, and sometimes hydrogenated. Soybean oils, both liquid and partially hydrogenated, are exported abroad, sold as "vegetable oil," or end up in a wide variety of processed foods. The remaining soybean husks are used mainly as animal feed.

The major unsaturated fatty acids in soybean oil triglycerides are linolenic acid,C18:3; linoleic acid, C-18:2; and oleic acid,C-18:1. Soybean oil has a relatively high proportion, 7-10%, of oxidation prone linolenic acid, which is an undesirable property for continuous service, such as in a restaurant. Two companies, Monsanto and DuPont/Bunge in 2004 introduced low linolenic, (C18:3; cis-9, cis-12, cis-15 octadecatrienoic acid) Roundup Ready soybeans: the former introduced a new soybean seed variety called "Vistive" and the latter Pioneer seed variety 93M20. Dupont/Bunge is marketing its low linolenic soybean oil under the brand name Nutrium. The idea is that reducing or eliminating the triple unsaturated fatty acid, linolenic, also eliminates the tendency to be a paint-like drying oil producing noticeable rancidity. In the past hydrogenation reduced the unsaturation in linolenic acid but produced the unnatural trans fatty acid trans fat configuration whereas in nature the configuration is cis.

One unintended consequence of moving away from partially hydrogenated soybean oil (containing trans fatty acids) is the switch to partially saturated palm oil for frying, especially in China. This fact is resulting in a severe threat of deforestation to pristine forests in Indonesia followed by the planting of oil palm plantations. Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag

Meal

Soybean meal, the material remaining after solvent extraction of soybean flakes, with a 50% soy protein content, toasted (a misnomer because the heat treatment is with moist steam), and ground, in a hammer mill, provided the energy for the American revolution, beginning in the 1930s, of growing farm animals such as poultry and swine on an industrial scale; and more recently the aquaculture of catfish.

Flour

Soy flour refers to defatted soybeans where special care was taken during desolventizing (not toasted) in order to minimize denaturation of the protein to retain a high Nitrogen Solubility Index (NSI), for uses such as extruder texturizing (TVP). It is the starting material for production of soy concentrate and soy protein isolate.

  • Defatted soy flour, is obtained from solvent extracted flakes, and contains less than 1% oil.
  • Full-fat soy flour, is made from unextracted, dehulled beans, and contains about 18% to 20% oil. Due to its high oil content a specialized Alpine Fine Impact Mill must be used for grinding rather than the more common hammermill.
  • Low fat soy flour, is made by adding back some oil to defatted soy flour. The lipid content varies according to specifications, usually between 4.5% and 9%.
  • High fat soy flour, is produced by adding back soybean oil to defatted flour, at the level of 15%.
  • Lecithinated soy flour, is made by adding soybean lecithin to defatted, low fat or high fat soy flours to increase their dispersibility and impart emulsifying properties. The lecithin content varies up to 15%.

Infant formula

Infant formulas based on soy are used by lactose-intolerant babies; and for babies that are allergic to human milk proteins and cow milk proteins. The formulas are sold in powdered, ready to feed, or concentrated liquid forms.

It has been recomended internationally by pediactric associations that soy formulas not be used as the primary or sole source of nutrition for infants due to the high risk of several deficiencies including calcium and zinc.

Substitute for existing products

Many traditional dairy products have been imitated using processed soybeans, and imitation products such as "soy milk," "soy yogurt" and "soy cream cheese" are readily available in most supermarkets. These imitation products are derived from extensive processing to produce a texture and appearance similar to the real dairy-based ones. Soy milk does not contain significant amounts of calcium, since the high calcium content of soybeans is bound to the insoluble constituents and remains in the pulp. Many manufacturers of soy milk now sell calcium-enriched products as well.

Other products

Soybeans are also used in industrial products including oils, soap, cosmetics, resins, plastics, inks, crayons, solvents, and biodiesel. Soybeans are also used as fermenting stock to make a brand of vodka.

Henry Ford promoted the soybean, helping to develop uses for it both in food and in industrial products, even demonstrating auto body panels made of soy-based plastics. Ford's interest lead to 2 bushels of soybeans being used in each Ford car as well as products like the first commercial soy milk, ice cream and all-vegetable non-dairy whipped topping.

The Ford development of so called soy-based plastics was based on the addition of soybean flour and wood flour to phenolformaldehyde plastics.

In 1931 Ford, who said, "most people dig their graves with their teeth", hired the chemists Robert Boyer and Frank Calvert in a "Quest" for artificial silk. They succeeded in making a textile fiber of spun soy protein fibers, hardened or tanned in a formaldehyde bath which was given the name Azlon by the Federal Trade Commission. Pilot plant production of Azlon reached 5000 pounds per day in 1940, but never reached the commercial market. However, Henry Ford did have the "now famous" suit made for him of Azlon which he wore on special occasions. The winning textile fiber in the "Quest" for artificial silk was, of course, Nylon a synthetic polyamide or artificial protein discovered in 1935 by Wallace H.Carothers at DuPont. [Soybeans and Soybean Products, Vol.II,edited by K.H. Markley,1951]

Today, very high quality textile fibers are made commercially from okara or soy pulp, a by- product of tofu production.

New World beans

Common beans

The common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, indigenous to the Americas, is an herbaceous annual plant domesticated independently in ancient Mesoamerica and the Andes, and now grown worldwide for its edible bean, popular both dry and as a green bean. The leaf is occasionally used as a leaf vegetable, and the straw is used for fodder. Botanically, the common bean is classified as a dicotyledon. Along with squash and maize, beans were the "Three sisters" that provided the foundation of Native American agriculture. As a legume, beans provided the nitrogen fixing bacteria which supplied that essential nutrient to the other two crops.

Description

The common bean is a highly variable species. Bush varieties form erect bushes 20–60 cm tall, while pole or running varieties form vines 2–3 m long. All varieties bear alternate, green or purple leaves, divided into three oval, smooth-edged leaflets, each 6–15 cm long and 3–11 cm wide. The white, pink, or purple flowers are about 1 cm long, and give way to pods 8–20 cm long, 1–1.5 cm wide, green, yellow, black or purple in color, each containing 4–6 beans. The beans are smooth, plump, kidney-shaped, up to 1.5 cm long, range widely in color, and are often mottled in two or more colors.

As the common bean is a dicot, it germinates as such:

  • The primary root emerges through the seed coats while the seed is still buried in the soil.
  • The hypocotyl emerges from the seed coats and pushes its way up through the soil. It is bent in a hairpin shape — the hypocotyl arch (Crozier's hook) — as it grows up. The two cotyledons protect the epicotyl structures — the plumule — from mechanical damage.
  • Once the hypocotyl arch emerges from the soil, it straightens out. This response is triggered by light (phototropism). Both red light, absorbed by phytochrome and blue light, absorbed by cryptochrome can do the job.
  • The cotyledons spread apart, exposing the epicotyl, consisting of two primary leaves and the apical meristem.
  • In many dicots, the cotyledons not only supply their food stores to the developing plant but also turn green and make more food by photosynthesis until they drop off.


Toxicity

Before they are eaten, the raw bean seeds should be boiled for at least ten minutes to degrade a toxic compound - the lectin phytohaemagglutinin - found in the bean which would otherwise cause severe gastric upset. This compound is present in many varieties (and in some other species of bean), but is especially concentrated in red kidney beans. Although in the case of dry beans the ten minutes required to degrade the toxin is much shorter than the hours required to fully cook the beans themselves, outbreaks of poisoning have been associated with the use of slow cookers whose low cooking temperatures may be unable to degrade the toxin. Sprouts of pulses high in haemaglutins should not be eaten. Red kidney beans, especially, should not be sprouted.

Dry beans

Similar to other beans, the common bean is high in starch, protein and dietary fiber and an excellent source of iron, potassium, selenium, molybdenum, thiamine, vitamin B6, and folic acid.

Dry beans will keep indefinitely if stored in a cool, dry place, but as time passes, their nutritive value and flavor degrades and cooking times lengthen. Dried beans are almost always cooked by boiling, often after having been soaked for several hours. While the soaking step is not necessary, it shortens cooking time somewhat and results in a more evenly textured pot of beans. In addition, discarding one or more soaking waters leaches out hard-to-digest complex sugars that can cause flatulence. There are several methods, the power soak method is to boil beans for three minutes, then set aside 2-4 hours, then drain and discard water and proceed with cooking. Common beans take longer to cook than most pulses: cooking times vary from one to four hours but are substantially reduced with pressure cooking. The traditional spice to use with beans is Epazote which is also said to aid digestion, and Kombu (a type of seaweed) can be added to beans as they cook to improve their digestion as well. Salt, sugar, and acidic foods, like tomatoes, will harden uncooked beans and therefore should be added last, after the beans have been completely cooked.

Dry beans may be also be bought pre-cooked and canned as refried beans, or whole with water, salt, and sometimes sugar.

Green beans

File:Blanching.jpg
Blanching green common beans

Green common beans are also called string beans, stringless beans (depending on whether the pod has a tough, fibrous "string" running along its length), or snap beans. Compared to the dry beans, they provide less starch and protein, and more vitamin A and vitamin C. The green beans are often steamed, stir-fried, or baked in casseroles.

Shelling beans

As with other beans, prominently among them lima beans, soybeans, peas, and fava beans, common beans can be used for fresh shell beans, also called shelling beans, which are fully mature beans harvested from the pod before they have begun to dry.

Nutritionally, shell beans are similar to dry beans, but in the kitchen are treated as a vegetable, often steamed, fried, or made into soups.

Popping beans

The nuña is an Andean subspecies, Phaseolus vulgaris subsp. nunas (formerly Phaseolus vulgaris (Nuñas Group)), with round multicolored seeds looking like pigeon eggs. When cooked on high heat the bean explodes, exposing the inner part, in the manner of popcorn and other puffed grains.

Lima beans

The Lima bean or butter bean or Liam and Alec (Phaseolus lunatus, Fabaceae) is grown as a vegetable for its mature and immature beans. Also known as Haba bean, Burma bean, Guffin bean, Hibbert bean, Java bean, Sieva bean, Rangood bean, Madagascar bean, Paiga, Paigya, Prolific bean, Civet bean and Sugar bean

The lima bean is of Andean and Mesoamerican origin. Two separate domestication events are believed to have occurred. The first, taking place in the Andes around 6500 B.C.E., produced a large-seeded variety (Lima type), while the second, taking place most likely in Mesoamerica around 800 C.E., produced a small-seeded variety (Sieva type). By 1301 C.E., cultivation spread to North America, and in the sixteenth century arrived and began to be cultivated in the Eastern Hemisphere.

The small-seeded wild form (Sieva type) is found distributed from Mexico to Argentina, generally below 1600 meters above sea level, while the large-seeded wild form (Lima type) is found distributed in Ecuador and the north of Peru, between 320 and 2030 meters above sea level.

Both bush and pole (vine) varieties exist, the latter from one to four meters in height. The bush varieties mature earlier than the pole varieties. The pods are up to 15 cm long. The mature seeds are 1 to 3 cm long and oval to kidney shaped. In most varieties the seeds are quite flat, but in the "potato" varieties the shape approaches spherical. White seeds are common, but black, red, orange and variously mottled seeds are also known. The immature seeds are uniformly green.


Runner beans

Runner beans

The runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus, Fabaceae) is often called the scarlet runner bean since most varieties have red flowers and multicolored seeds, though some have white flowers and white seeds. It is native to the mountains of Central America.

The runner bean differs from the common bean in several respects: the cotyledons stay in the ground during germination, and the plant is a perennial with tuberous roots (though it is usually treated as an annual).

The green pods are edible whole but in some varieties (the scarlet runner) tend to become fibrous early, and only the seeds within are eaten. The seeds can be used fresh or as dried beans. The starchy roots are still eaten by Central American Indians. The scarlet runner is widely grown for its attractive flowers by people who would never think of eating it.

Phaseolus coccineus subsp. darwinianus is a cultivated subspecies of P. coccineus, it is commonly referred to as the Botil bean in Mexico.

References

  • Berk, Z., 1992, "Technology of Production of Edible Flours and Protein Products from Soybeans", Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation[7]
  • Hernández Bermejo, J.E. & León, J., 1992, "Neglected crops: 1492 from a different perspective", Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO)[8]
  • Muehlbauer, F.J. & Tullu, A, 1997, "Vicia faba L.", Purdue University[9]
  • North Carolina Soybean Producers Association (NCSPA), Website, [10]
  • Walker, E. & L., 2005, "Beans (which includes a lot of vegetable species!)", Growingtaste.com[11]
  • Watson, R., 2004, "A Closer Look at Legumes", Mediterrasian.com[12]

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