A bean is the seed of one of several genera of the flowering plant family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food.[1] They can be cooked in many different ways,[2] including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes throughout the world.Both terms, beans and pulses, are usually reserved for grain crops and thus exclude those legumes that have tiny seeds and are used exclusively for non-grain purposes (forage, hay, and silage), such as clover and alfalfa.The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization defines "BEANS, DRY" (item code 176)[5] as applicable only to species of Phaseolus.Unlike the closely related pea, beans are a summer crop that needs warm temperatures to grow.Native Americans customarily grew them along with corn and squash (the so-called Three Sisters),[7] with the tall cornstalks acting as support for the beans.[9] In a form improved from naturally occurring types, they were grown in Thailand from the early seventh millennium BCE, predating ceramics.Not until the second millennium BCE did cultivated, large-seeded broad beans appear in the Aegean, Iberia and transalpine Europe.[11] In the Iliad (8th century BCE) there is a passing mention of beans and chickpeas cast on the threshing floor.The oldest-known domesticated beans in the Americas were found in Guitarrero Cave, an archaeological site in Peru, and dated to around the second millennium BCE.[13] However, genetic analyses of the common bean Phaseolus show that it originated in Mesoamerica, and subsequently spread southward, along with maize and squash, traditional companion crops.Most of the kinds commonly eaten fresh or dried, those of the genus Phaseolus, come originally from the Americas, being first seen by a European when Christopher Columbus, while exploring what may have been the Bahamas, found them growing in fields.The corn would not be planted in rows as is done by European agriculture, but in a checkerboard/hex fashion across a field, in separate patches of one to six stalks each.They would be provided slight shelter from the sun by the corn, would shade the soil and reduce evaporation, 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 such as deer and raccoons to walk through, crows to land on, etc.Beans are a heliotropic plant, meaning that the leaves tilt throughout the day to face the sun.Beans, average, canned, sugarfree Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) Energy 334 kJ (80 kcal) Carbohydrates 10.5 g Fat 0.5 g Protein 9.6 g Units.Currently, the world gene banks hold about 40,000 bean varieties, although only a fraction are mass-produced for regular consumption.Most of the foods we call "beans", "legumes", "lentils" and "pulses" belong to the same family, Fabaceae ("leguminous" plants), but are from different genera and species, native to different homelands and distributed worldwide depending on their adaptability.Phytic acid and phytates, present in grains, nuts, seeds and beans, interfere with bone growth and interrupt vitamin D metabolism.Some kinds of raw beans contain a harmful, tasteless toxin: the lectin phytohaemagglutinin, which must be removed by cooking.Red kidney beans are particularly toxic, but other types also pose risks of food poisoning.[36] Beans are a major source of dietary protein in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.There have been many outbreaks of disease from bacterial contamination, often by salmonella, listeria, and Escherichia coli, of beansprouts not thoroughly cooked,[38] some causing significant mortality.(million metric tons) Country 2016 Share Remarks Total 81.80 100% 1 India 17.56 21.47% 2 Canada 8.20 10.03% 3 Myanmar 6.57 8.03% 4 China 4.23 5.17% 5 Nigeria 3.09 3.78% 6 Russia 2.94 3.60% 7 Ethiopia 2.73 3.34% 8 Brazil 2.62 3.21% 9 Australia 2.52 3.09% 10 USA 2.44 2.98% 11 Niger 2.06 2.51% 12 Tanzania 2.00 2.45% Others 24.82 30.34%.The world leader in production of Dry Beans (Phaseolus spp),[45] is India, followed by Myanmar (Burma) and Brazil.(tonnes) Footnote India 5,460,000 F Myanmar 3,053,012 Brazil 3,035,290 A United States 1,495,180 * China 1,281,586 Tanzania 1,267,648 F Mexico 1,056,071 Kenya 774,366 F Argentina 633,823 * Uganda 603,980 World 27,545,942 A. .
History of Dried Beans – How It All Started
Beans have been a part of human’s diets for thousands of years, and they come in hundreds of sizes, shapes, and colors.To bring them back to life, you only need to soak them in water for a couple of hours to activate their proteins, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes.They can also be curdled into tofu, ground into flour, and fermented into miso, tempi, and soy sauce.These native farming practices and beans spread gradually all over North and South America.The oldest cultivation of the common bean dated about 8,000 years ago and was found in Peru.Tepary beans – cultivated about 5,000 years ago in northwestern Mexico (the Sonoran Desert) and the southwestern United States.For thousands of years, the common bean has migrated across the world – from the American continent to Europe, and then back again with European immigrants and explorers.Furthermore, when European explorers arrived in the New World, natives introduced them to Three Sisters – a companion planting technique.This technique involves growing beans, squash, and corn together – after decades of experimentation, the natives noticed that they were productive when planted together.Up to this point, Europeans were only familiar with fava beans, and when they set their sails back to Europe, they took along seeds from the crops the indigenous people had introduced to them.After taking bean cultivars to Europe, European settlers renamed them and returned to North America.As for Bolita beans, it is not clear whether the Spaniards only picked them up while traveling north through Mexico or brought them from Spain.Immigrants who brought seeds from Europe used to grow them and select plants that adapted to the local climate.Beans are also versatile because they pair well with different meats, like lamb and chicken, can be mashed or kept intact, and go well with salads and soups.Dried beans are also easy and convenient to prepare, and they can be combined with different types of meat and vegetables.In other words, it decreases the risk of these costly problems that can negatively affect your bottom line (unprofitable equipment downtime, expensive maintenance interventions, and broken and wasted materials). .
History of Beans
Seeds grow in pods that are between 10 and 20 cm long and are at first soft and sweet only to get hard and dry as they mature.The oldest findings and proofs that we used beans for food are 9,000 years old and were found in Thailand.Beans were also found in the tombs of the kings of the ancient Egypt where they were left as the food for the departed and their souls in the afterlife.They have lectin phytohaemagglutinin which can cause poisoning with symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea from as little as five raw beans.Bean also contains oligosaccharides (raffinose and stachyose) which are digested by bacteria in the large intestine which results in flatulence-causing gases.For instance, in China (more precisely in Sichuan), broad beans are mixed with soybeans and chili peppers and fermented into a paste called doubanjiang.In Dalmatia, a part of Croatia, people prepare a traditional dish made of stuffed artichokes with fava beans and peas.The Southern United States eat a “Hoppin' John” - a dish made of black-eyed peas and rice.It is prepared by mixing mashed black-eyed peas, salt, onions and peppers and frying the mixture.East Asian adzuki bean is boiled with sugar and made into a sweet paste to be used as an ingredient for many desserts.Mung beans are cooked with coconut milk, sugar and a little ginger and made into a porridge which is a dessert snack called “es kacang hijau”.On the other hand, when the mung bean is made into a fine paste with ginger and salt it is eaten for breakfast. .
History of Chocolate
According to Hayes Lavis, cultural arts curator for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, ancient Olmec pots and vessels from around 1500 B.C.The Olmecs undoubtedly passed their cacao knowledge on to the Central American Mayans who not only consumed chocolate, they revered it.The Mayan written history mentions chocolate drinks being used in celebrations and to finalize important transactions.Despite chocolate’s importance in Mayan culture, it wasn’t reserved for the wealthy and powerful but readily available to almost everyone.Mayan chocolate was thick and frothy and often combined with chili peppers, honey or water.Like the Mayans, they enjoyed the caffeinated kick of hot or cold, spiced chocolate beverages in ornate containers, but they also used cacao beans as currency to buy food and other goods.Another tale states Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes was introduced to chocolate by the Aztecs of Montezuma’s court.A third story claims that friars who presented Guatemalan Mayans to Philip II of Spain in 1544 also brought cacao beans along as a gift.European palates weren’t satisfied with the traditional Aztec chocolate drink recipe.They made their own varieties of hot chocolate with cane sugar, cinnamon and other common spices and flavorings.Soon, fashionable chocolate houses for the wealthy cropped up throughout London, Amsterdam and other European cities.By 1773, cocoa beans were a major American colony import and chocolate was enjoyed by people of all classes.During the Revolutionary War, chocolate was provided to the military as rations and sometimes given to soldiers as payment instead of money.But in 1828, Dutch chemist Coenraad Johannes van Houten discovered a way to treat cacao beans with alkaline salts to make a powdered chocolate that was easier to mix with water.In 1879, another Swiss chocolatier, Rudolf Lindt, invented the conch machine which mixed and aerated chocolate giving it a smooth, melt-in-your-mouth consistency that blended well with other ingredients.As many cocoa farmers struggle to make ends meet, some turn to low-wage or slave labor (sometimes acquired by child trafficking) to stay competitive.This has prompted grass roots efforts for large chocolate companies to reconsider how they get their cocoa supply. .
The History of Coffee
The story goes that that Kaldi discovered coffee after he noticed that after eating the berries from a certain tree, his goats became so energetic that they did not want to sleep at night.Kaldi reported his findings to the abbot of the local monastery, who made a drink with the berries and found that it kept him alert through the long hours of evening prayer.As word moved east and coffee reached the Arabian peninsula, it began a journey which would bring these beans across the globe.Not only did the patrons drink coffee and engage in conversation, but they also listened to music, watched performers, played chess and kept current on the news.With thousands of pilgrims visiting the holy city of Mecca each year from all over the world, knowledge of this “wine of Araby” began to spread.Some people reacted to this new beverage with suspicion or fear, calling it the “bitter invention of Satan.” The local clergy condemned coffee when it came to Venice in 1615.Despite such controversy, coffee houses were quickly becoming centers of social activity and communication in the major cities of England, Austria, France, Germany and Holland.Those who drank coffee instead of alcohol began the day alert and energized, and not surprisingly, the quality of their work was greatly improved.In 1714, the Mayor of Amsterdam presented a gift of a young coffee plant to King Louis XIV of France.Despite a challenging voyage — complete with horrendous weather, a saboteur who tried to destroy the seedling, and a pirate attack — he managed to transport it safely to Martinique.Once planted, the seedling not only thrived, but it’s credited with the spread of over 18 million coffee trees on the island of Martinique in the next 50 years. .
Where Did the Bean Bag Come From?
Maybe you had one in the corner of your childhood bedroom, or a few hanging out in your college dorm, but at one point or another, you’ve been able to jump into the middle of the beloved piece of furniture.While you might think they’re a recent development in the furniture industry, bean bags have had tons of uses throughout history and continue to be a popular piece in today’s homes.In China, Tai Chi practitioners made use of similar small bags by trying to keep them up in the air with their bodies, an archaic version of every college students favorite pastime—hacky sack.By 1995, several children had crawled into the casings and inhaled the filling, leading to the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require all bean bags made moving forward to have childproof zippers.Bean bags have taken on a more modern look, with softer, often interchangeable covers and more luxurious fillings than the foam beads we can all surely remember grinding into the carpet in the living room. .
10 things you didn't know about Green Bean Casserole
Sheila Miller, who manages our Campbell Test Kitchen, serves up 10 things you didn’t know about this iconic side dish.Green Bean Casserole was created by a Campbell Soup Company employee, Dorcas Reilly, at our Camden, New Jersey headquarters in 1955.Fun fact: Dorcas was my manager at Campbell back when I first joined the company out of college in the late 1980s, and even attended my wedding in 2001!To this day, the recipe calls for only six ingredients: canned or fresh green beans, Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, soy sauce, black pepper, milk, and French-fried onions.A lot of different ingredients were tested in Dorcas’ original recipe, like Worcestershire sauce, celery salt and ham, but they have since been removed.Dorcas’ original recipe card for “Green Bean Bake” now belongs to the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio. .
18 Food Crops Developed in the Americas
Christopher Columbus's "discovery" of the Americas in 1492 led to the introduction of many novel crops to Europe and subsequently to European colonies in Asia and Africa, forever changing the global food landscape. .
