Beans

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) used for food or feed. They are also known as legumes. The term Bean originally referred to 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, kidney beans, vetches and lupins.
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 sowing purposes (clover and alfalfa). Leguminous crops harvested green for food, such as 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 which bear a resemblance to the vegetable, for example coffee beans, castor beans and cocoa beans (which resemble bean seeds), and vanilla beans (which resemble the pods).

History
Beans are one of the longest-cultivated plants, broad beans having been grown at least since ancient Egypt, the common bean for six thousand years in the Americas.
Many modern dry beans come from old-world varieties of broad beans, but most of the kinds commonly eaten fresh come from the Americas, being first seen by Christopher Columbus during his conquest of a region of what may have been the Bahamas, where they were grown in fields.
One especially famous use of beans by pre-Columbian people is the Three Sisters method of companion plant cultivation:
On the east coast of what would come to be called the United States, some tribes would grow corn (maize), beans, and squash intermingled together, a system which had originated in Mexico. The corn would not be planted in rows as it is today, but in a checkerboard/hex fashion across a field, separate patches of one to four stalks each.
Beans would be planted around the base of the developing stalks, and would vine their way up as the stalks grew. All American beans at that time were vine plants, "bush beans" having only been bred more recently. The cornstalks would work as a trellis for the beans, and the beans would provide much-needed nitrogen for the corn.
Squash would then be planted in the spaces between the patches of corn in the field. They would be provided slight shelter from the sun by the corn, and would deter many animals from attacking the corn and beans, because their coarse, hairy vines and broad, stiff leaves are difficult or uncomfortable for animals like deer and racooons to walk through, crows to land on, et cetera.
Beans were an important alternative source of protein throughout old and new world history, and still are today. There are over 4,000 cultivars of bean on record in the United States, alone. However beans, like most plants, do not have a complete set of amino acids, and are therefore dangerous to depend upon as a sole source of protein.
An interesting modern example of the diversity of bean use is 15 bean soup, which, as the name implies, contains literally fifteen different varieties of bean.

Types of beans
Faba or broad bean
Aconitifolia or Moth bean
Angularis or azuki bean
mungo or urad bean
radiata or mung bean
umbellatta or rice bean
unguiculata or cowpea (includes the black-eyed pea, yardlong bean and others)
arietinum or chickpea
sativum or pea
Lathyrus sativus (Indian pea)
Lathyrus tuberosus (Tuberous pea)
culinaris or lentil
purpureus or hyacinth bean
acutifolius or tepary bean
coccineus or runner bean
lunatus or lima bean
vulgaris or common bean (includes the pinto bean, kidney bean and many others)
max or soybean
tetragonolobus or winged bean
cajan or pigeon pea
spp or velvet bean
tetragonoloba or guar
ensiformis or jack bean
gladiata or sword bean
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 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.
An array of tomatoes and beans
Pliny the Elder claimed that beans act as a laxative. He may have been referring to the seeds of the castor oil plant, which contain oils used as laxatives in ancient India.
European folklore claims that planting beans on Good Friday or during the night-time is good luck.
"Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit" is a children's song about the flatulence often experienced after eating beans. The song is noteworthy for correctly identifying the bean as a fruit, not a vegetable.
In Japanese, "mame" may also mean something small. "Mame Chishiki", a Japanese phrase, which literally means "bean knowledge" (not "knowledge of beans"), is used to indicate any random trivia or miscellaneous knowledge displayed. The Japanese name for the Japanese beetle is "mamekogane", meaning "small beetle".
In New Orleans, serving a meal of black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is thought to bring good luck in the upcoming year.

Toxins
Some kinds of raw beans and especially red and kidney beans, contain a harmful toxin (Phytohaemagglutinin) that must be removed, usually by soaking and cooking. The soaking water from kidney beans should be discarded before boiling, and they should be boiled for at least ten minutes. Undercooked beans may be more toxic than raw beans. Cooking beans in a slow cooker, because of the lower temperatures often used, may not destroy toxins even though the beans do not smell or taste 'bad' (though this should not be a problem if the food reaches boiling and stays there for some time).

Flatulence
Many edible beans, including broad beans and soybeans, contain oligosaccharides (particularly Raffinose and Stachyose), a type of sugar molecule also found in cabbage. An anti-oligosaccharide enzyme is necessary to properly digest these sugar molecules. As a normal human digestive tract does not contain any anti-oligosaccharide enzymes, consumed oligosaccharides are typically digested by bacteria in the large intestine. This digestion process produces flatulence-causing gases as a byproduct. This aspect of bean digestion is the basis for the children's rhyme "Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit."
Some species of mold produce alpha-galactosidase, an anti-oligosaccharide enzyme, which humans can take to facilitate digestion of oligosaccharides in the small intestine. This enzyme, currently sold in the U.S. under the brand-name Beano, can be added to food or consumed separately. In many cuisines beans are cooked along with natural carminatives such as anise seeds, coriander seeds and cumin.
Other strategies include soaking beans in water for several hours before mixing them with other ingredients to remove the offending sugars. Sometimes vinegar is added, but only after the beans are cooked as vinegar interferes with the beans' softening.
Fermented beans will not produce most of the intestinal problems that unfermented beans will, since bacteria can consume the offending sugars.

The Common Bean
The common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, 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. Beans, squash and maize comprised 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. 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). While this may be caused by most wavelengths of light, the critical photoperidic mechanism is sensitive to red or far red light. This mechanism is crucial, not only to Phaseolus beans, but to most flowering plants. It defines the phenology of their growth, and in some cases growth habits.
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 and white kidney beans (Cannellini 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. Kidney beans, especially, should not be sprouted.

Dry bean Preperation
Similar to other beans, the common bean is high in starch, protein and dietary fiber and is 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 degrade and cooking times lengthen. Dried beans are almost always cooked by boiling, often after having been soaked for several hours. While the soaking is not strictly necessary, it shortens cooking time and results in more evenly textured beans. In addition, discarding one or more batches of soaking water leaches out hard-to-digest complex sugars that can cause flatulence, though those who eat beans regularly rarely have difficulties with flatulence as intestinal flora adjust. There are several methods including overnight soaking, and the power soak method, which is to boil beans for three minutes, then set them aside for 2-4 hours, then drain and discard the 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. 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 may harden uncooked beans resulting in seasoned beans at the expense of slightly longer cooking times.
Dry beans may also be bought pre-cooked and canned as refried beans, or whole with water, salt, and sometimes sugar.

Green beans

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, prominent 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 which resemble pigeon eggs. When cooked on high heat, the bean explodes, exposing the inner part, in the manner of popcorn and other puffed grains.

Diversity in dry common beans
Many well-known bean varieties belong to this species, and none of the lists below are in any way exhaustive. Both bush and running (pole) varieties exist. The colors and shapes of pods and seeds vary tremendously.

Snap or String beans
Stephen Facciola's Cornucopia lists 130 varieties of snap beans. Varieties specialized for use as green beans, selected for the succulence and flavor of their pods, are the ones usually grown in the home vegetable garden, and many varieties exist. Pod color can be green, golden, purple, red, or streaked. Shapes range from thin "fillet" types to wide "romano" types and more common types in between. French Haricots verts (green beans) are bred for flavorful pods.
Blue Lake (green)
Golden Wax (golden)
Purple King (purple)
Dragon's Tongue (streaked)
Red Swan (red)

Shell beans
Green pole beans on beanpoles
Cornucopia lists 37 varieties of shell beans. The light green Flageolet bean is taken very seriously in France and soon the heirloom Chevrier will come under a controlled label reminiscent of the wine "Appellation d'Origine Controllée" called "Label Rouge". A number of other beans are already produced under this label.
Flageolet bean varieties include:
Chevrier (the original heirloom)
Elsa
Flambeau
Flamingo
Borlotti beans are dried beans. They originated in North America were they are known by several names. The bean is a medium large tan bean, splashed with red/black to magenta streaks. It is very popular in Italian and Portuguese cuisine.
The American cranberry bean or horticultural bean is quite similar if not the same as the Italian borlotti bean. Pinto beans are not considered the same as borlotti beans.
True Cranberry (old VT heirloom with a more round shape like a cranberry), traditional ingredient of succotash

Pinto or mottled beans
Pinto beans
Alubia pinta alavesa
The pinto bean (Spanish: frijol pinto, literally "painted bean") is named for its mottled skin (compare pinto horse), hence it is a type of mottled bean. It is the most common bean in the United States and northwestern Mexico , and is most often eaten whole in broth or mashed and refried. Either whole or mashed, it is a common filling for burritos. The young pods may also be used as green beans.
In the southwest United States, the pinto bean is an important symbol of regional identity, especially among Mexican Americans. Along with the chile, it is one of the official state vegetables of New Mexico (under the name frijol). The prepared beans are commonly known as frijoles.
Pinto bean varieties include:
Sierra
Burke
Othello
Maverick
The alubia pinta alavesa, or the "Álava pinto bean", is a red variety of the pinto bean which originated in Añana, a town and municipality located in the province of Álava, in the Basque Country of northern Spain. In October, "la Feria de la alubia pinta alavesa" (the fair of the Alubia pinta alavesa) is celebrated in Pobes.
Another popular mottled bean is the anasazi, one of a number of more recently developed "gourmet" beans.

White beans
The small, white navy bean, also called pea bean or haricot, is popular in Britain, and traditionally the main bean of Anglo-America, used in such dishes as Boston baked beans.
Navy bean varieties include:
Robust
Rainy River
Michelite
Sanilac
Other white beans are Cannellini and Great Northern.

Red (kidney) beans
The kidney bean with its dark red skin is named for its visual resemblance to a kidney. The kidney bean is also known as the red bean, although this usage can cause confusion with other red beans. Kidney beans are a part of the cuisine of North India. Sometimes kidney beans are used in the red beans and rice of Louisiana Creole cuisine. Other times small red beans are used. Small red beans are noticeably smaller and darker than kidney beans. They have a smoother taste and are preferred for Cajun cuisine.

Black beans
The small, shiny black turtle bean is especially popular in Latin American cuisine. It is often called simply the black bean (frijol negro in Spanish, feijão preto in Portuguese), although this can cause confusion with other black beans.
The black turtle bean has a dense, meaty texture and flavor reminiscent of mushrooms, which makes it popular in vegetarian dishes such as the Mexican-American black bean burrito. It is a very popular bean in various regions of Brazil, and is used in the national dish, feijoada. It is also a principal ingredient of moros y cristianos as in Cuba, served elsewhere in almost all Latin America.
Black turtle beans have recently been reported to be an extremely good source of nutritional antioxidants.
Black turtle bean varieties include:
Domino
Black Magic
Blackhawk
Nighthawk

Pink beans
Pink beans are small oval-shaped beans, pale pink in color, also known by the Spanish name Habichuelas Rosadas. The most famous pink bean is the Santa Maria pinquito (spanglish = pink & small(ito) which is commercially grown on the mesas above Santa Maria, California, and is a necessary ingredient in Santa Maria Tri-tip barbecue.

Yellow beans
Sinaloa Azufrado, Sulphur, Mayocoba, and Peruano are types of yellow beans.


Recipes


The All-Around Best Chili You Can Make
4 pounds hamburger
4 medium onions, diced
2 cups chopped green peppers
2 4-ounce cans chopped green chilies
2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes, with the juice (See the discussion of tomatoes below for other options.)
1 pound bag of pinto beans (or other beans), picked over and soaked in water overnight (See the note below if you want to use canned beans.)
4 cups water
1 16-ounce can red kidney beans, undrained
4 healthy-sized cloves of garlic, minced (I use a garlic press, a wonderful invention.)
4 Tablespoons chili powder (more if you want it spicier)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
Pick over the beans and soak them in plenty of water overnight.
Cook the hamburger, onions, and green peppers together. Drain the fat. Put the (soaked) beans, water, tomatoes, hamburger mix, garlic, chili powder, and cumin (all of it at once) into a big pot (it takes a BIG one) and boil it until the beans are soft. This will take several hours. Be patient. If using dry beans, wait to add the salt until the beans are soft--they say salt toughens beans as they cook.
Add water as it cooks to keep it to the proper liquid consistency.
NOTES:
Beans: We've had a little trouble with the beans being slightly tough, no matter how long we cook them, which we are working on. (It's probably due to the high altitude and hard water here in Utah....) The original recipe calls for canned beans, which certainly work nicely, but is more expensive than using dry beans. Use 6 or 7 cans (15 ounces each) of beans. At least half should be pinto beans, and you need one or two cans of kidney beans (one is already in the regular recipe above). Chili beans, red beans, and other favorite bean types are also OK.
If you use canned beans, don't drain them. If you believe, as many cookbook authors do, that draining and rinsing the beans makes a difference, go ahead, but you'll need more liquid when you make the chili than is provided in this recipe.
Tomatoes: How you work the tomatoes should depend on your preferences for chili. I like them in little chunks, so the directions above work nicely. Others don't want to find anything that's identifiably a tomato in the chili. In that case, buy stewed or diced tomatoes and pulse them in a blender to make the pieces unnoticeably small. This is probably preferable if you're making the chili for a crowd. (Last night at the church dinner, I watched one grandfatherly old gentleman, when getting his second bowl, carefully pick out the big chunk of tomato and return it to the pot. We had some pots with unblended tomatoes and some with chunky tomatoes. We aim to please. We even made a pot with no onions, which went over well with the onion-intolerant crowd.)
Home-Grown Tomatoes: There is nothing better than this chili made with fresh tomatoes right from the garden. One family of neighbors brings us tomatoes regularly and we reward them with a quart of the resulting chili, which they love.
If you can your home-grown tomatoes in quart jars, this is also a great use for those tomatoes. Use a quart as the equivalent of a 28-ounce can of tomatoes.
Copyright © 2003 by Richard Mann

MIXED BAKED BEANS
WWW.COOKS.COM
1 1/2 cups dried pinto beans
1 1/2 cups dried kidney beans
1 1/2 cups dry great Northern beans
14 cups water
1/2 pound salt pork, cut into 1/8" strips
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
3 cups water
3 teaspoons dry mustard
3 tablespoons molasses
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound bacon, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
Pick over and wash dried beans. Rinse well, drain. Combine beans and water in a large Dutch oven or cast-iron pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and allow to stand one hour. Drain and return beans to Dutch oven.
Stir in remaining ingredients, leaving salt pork near top. Cover and bake at 300° for three hours. Uncover, and bake an additional 30 minutes or until beans are tender.
Submitted by: CM


16 BEAN SOUP
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1 pkg 16 dry Bean Soup
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
3 stalks celery, stringed and sliced thinly
1/2 lb baby carrots1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb Italian sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cans chicken stock
1 can diced or stewed tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon crushed red peppersalt and pepper, to taste
1 chicken bouillon cubewater to cover ingredients
Slice casings of sausage meat and crumble into a skillet. Add olive oil and saute over medium high heat until outside of sausage begins to brown. Add onion and saute until translucent. Add garlic near end. Sausage meat does not need to cook, only brown slightly. Do not allow garlic to brown.
Deglaze pan with chicken stock, and transfer contents of pan to Crockpot.
Add remaining ingredients except for tomatoes to Crockpot.
Set Crockpot to high setting and cook for 2 hours, then cook an additional 3-5 hours on low setting or until beans are tender.
Check occasionally to see if more liquid is required as beans expand during cooking. Add tomatoes during final hour of cooking.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Can be served over pasta or rice.
Note: When in season, fresh herbs may be substituted for dried for enhanced flavor.
Submitted by: CM