Beans and Legumes
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Wikipedia-Article "Beans"
- This article is on the plant. For alternate meanings, see Bean (disambiguation)
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) used for food or feed.
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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 or haricot 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 lupins.
Some raw beans, for example kidney beans, contain harmful toxins which need to be removed, usually by various methods of soaking and cooking. The soaking water from kidney beans should be discarded before boiling, and some authorities recommend changing the water during cooking as well. Cooking beans in a crockpot, because of the lower temperatures used, does not destroy toxins even though the beans do not smell or taste 'bad'. Beans have been known to produce prodigious quantities of intestinal gas in some people; resulting in farts of incredible stench and duration.
Bean can be used as a near synonym of pulse, i.e. an edible legume, though the term "pulses" is usually reserved for those leguminous crops which are harvested for their dry grain. Pulses then exclude those crops mainly used for oil extraction (like soybean and peanut) or those used exclusively for sowing purposes (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).
In 1889, Justice Joseph Philo Bradley of the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Robertson v. Salomon (130 U. S. 412), that a bean is a vegetable and not a seed. In his decision, Bradley stated that:
- "We do not see why they should be classified as seeds, any more than walnuts should be so classified. Both are seeds, in the language of botany or natural history, but not in commerce nor in common parlance. On the other hand in speaking generally of provisions, beans may well be included under the term 'vegetables.' As an article of food on our tables, whether baked or boiled, or forming the basis of soup, they are used as a vegetable, as well when ripe as when green. This is the principal use to which they are put. Beyond the common knowledge which we have on this subject, very little evidence is necessary, or can be produced."
Types of bean
- Vicia
- V. faba or broad bean
- Vigna
- V. aconitifolia or Moth bean
- V. angularis or azuki bean
- V. mungo or Urd bean
- V. radiata or mung bean
- V. umbellatta or rice bean
- V. unguiculata or cowpea (includes the black-eyed pea, yardlong bean and others)
- several others
- Cicer
- C. arietinum or chickpea
- Pisum
- P. sativum or pea
- Lathyrus
- Lathyrus sativus (Indian pea)
- Lathyrus tuberosus (Tuberous pea)
- Lens
- L. culinaris or lentil
- Lablab
- L. purpureus or hyacinth bean
- Phaseolus
- P. acutifolius or tepary bean
- P. coccineus or runner bean
- P. lunatus or lima bean
- P. vulgaris or common bean (includes the pinto bean, kidney bean and many others)
- Glycine
- G. max or soybean
- Psophocarpus
- P. tetragonolobus or winged bean
- Cajanus
- C. cajan or pigeon pea
- Stizolobium
- S. spp or velvet bean
- Cyamopsis
- C. tetragonoloba or guar
- Canavalia
- C. ensiformis or jack bean
- Macrotyloma
- M. uniflorum or horse gram
- Lupinus or Lupin
- L. mutabilis or tarwi
- Erythrina or Coral bean
Cultural aspects
The following traditional uses of beans refer to the broad bean.
In ancient Greece and Rome, beans were used in voting (a white bean meant yes and a black bean meant no) and as a food for the dead, such as during the annual Lemuria festival.
In some folk legends, such as in Estonia and the common Jack and the Beanstalk story, magical beans grow tall enough to bring the hero to the clouds. The Grimm Brothers collected a story in which a bean splits its sides laughing at the failure of others.
Dreaming of a bean is sometimes said to be a sign of impending conflict, though others said they caused bad dreams.
Pliny claimed they acted as a laxative.
European folklore also claims that planting beans on Good Friday or during the night-time is good luck.
External links
- Beans for the home gardener
- EVERETT H. BICKLEY COLLECTION, 1919-1980 - Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
- Why eating beans causes gas
See also
Wikipedia-Article "Legumes"
The term legume has two closely related meanings in botany, a situation encountered with many botanical common names of useful plants whereby an applied name can refer to either the plant itself, or to the edible fruit (or useful part). Thus, "legume" can be:
- The common name for plant species in the Family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae);
- The name of a type of fruit, characteristic of legumous plants. To wit:
- A legume is a simple dry fruit which develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. A common name for this type of fruit is a "pod", although pod is also applied to a few other fruit types. Well-known plants that bear legume fruits include alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lupins and peanuts. A peanut is not a nut in the botanical sense; a peanut is an indehiscent legume, that is, one that does not spontaneously split open along a seam.
Legumes are noteworthy for their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, an accomplishment attributable to a symbiotic relationship with certain bacteria known as rhizobia found in root nodules of these plants. The ability to form this symbiosis reduces fertilizer costs for farmers that grow legumes, and means that legumes can be used in a crop rotation to replenish soil that has been depleted of nitrogen.
Legume seed and foliage has a comparatively higher protein content than non-legume material, probably due to the additional nitrogen that legumes receive through nitrogen-fixation symbiosis. This high protein content makes them desirable crops in agriculture. Farmed legumes fall into two classes: forage and grain. Forage legumes, like alfalfa, clover and vetch, are sown in pasture and grazed by livestock. Grain legumes are cultivated for their seeds, and are also called pulses. The seeds are used for human and animal consumption or for the production of oils for industrial uses. Grain legumes include beans, lentils, lupins, peas, peanuts and soybeans.
The term is derived from the French word "légume" (which, however, has a wider meaning and refers to any kind of vegetable).
External links
- AEP - European association for grain legume research
- Mediterrasian - Article discussing health benefits of eating legumes