Bean
Bean is a common name for large plant
seeds of several
genera of
Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) used for food or feed.
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.
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 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).
Vicia*
Faba or
broad beanVigna*
Aconitifolia or
Moth bean*
Angularis or
azuki bean*
mungo or
Urd bean*
radiata or
mung bean*
umbellatta or
rice bean*
unguiculata or
cowpea (includes the
black-eyed pea,
yardlong bean and others)
Cicer*
arietinum or
chickpeaPisum*
sativum or
peaLathyrus
*Lathyrus sativus (Indian pea)
*Lathyrus tuberosus (Tuberous pea)
*Lens
**culinaris
or lentil *Lablab
**purpureus
or hyacinth bean
*Phaseolus
**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)
*Glycine
**max
or soybean
*Psophocarpus
**tetragonolobus
or winged bean |
Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (winged bean) |
*Cajanus
**cajan
or pigeon pea
*Stizolobium
**spp
or velvet bean
*Cyamopsis
**tetragonoloba
or guar
*Canavalia
**ensiformis
or jack bean
*Macrotyloma
**M. uniflorum
or horse gram
*Lupinus or Lupin
**L. mutabilis or tarwi
**Erythrina'' or
Coral beanThe 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.
*
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 Magical Fruit..." is a children's song about the flatulence often experienced after eating broad beans. The song is noteworthy for correctly identifying the bean as a fruit, not a vegetable.
Some raw beans, for example
kidney beans, contain harmful toxins (
lectins) 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 crock pot, because of the lower temperatures used, does not destroy toxins even though the beans do not smell or taste 'bad'.
* To bean someone can mean to hit them in the head with a thrown object.
* In Software Engineering,
Java Beans are reusable software components.
Many edible beans, including broad beans and soybeans, contain
oligosaccharides, 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 gasses as a byproduct.
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.
*
Beans for the home gardener*
Everett H. Bickley Collection, 1919-1980 Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
*
Bean facts and photography*
Discovery Online: The Skinny On Why Beans Give You Gas*
Bulgarian Guide: Bean Soup Recipe*
Pulses*
List of edible seeds*
Baked beans
