A bean is the seed of plants in many genera of the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are sold fresh or preserved through drying (a pulse). Beans have been cultivated since the seventh millennium BCE in Thailand, and since the second millennium BCE in Europe and in Peru. Most beans, with the exception of peas, are summer crops. As legumes, the plants fix nitrogen and form seeds with a high protein content. They are produced on a scale of millions of tons annually in many countries, with India as the largest producer.
The common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, is the most consumed bean species in the world and is native to the Americas. It was domesticated in Mexico, Central America and the southern Andes region some 8,000years ago.12 It has extensive .
varieties
Dried beans are traditionally soaked and boiled, and used in traditional dishes throughout the world including salads, soups, and stews such as chili con carne. Some are processed into tofu; others are fermented to form tempeh. Guar beans are used for their gum. The unripe seedpods of some varieties are also eaten whole as green beans or edamame (immature soybean). Some types are sprouted to form beansprouts.
Many fully ripened beans contain toxins like phytohaemagglutinin and require cooking to make them safe to eat. Many species contain indigestible oligosaccharides that produce flatulence. Beans have traditionally been seen as a food of the poor.
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The word "bean" and its Germanic cognates (e.g. GermanBohne) have existed in common use in West Germanic languages since before the 12th century,3 referring to broad beans, chickpeas, and other pod-borne seeds. This was long before the New World genus Phaseolus was known in Europe. With the Columbian exchange of domestic plants between Europe and the Americas, use of the word was extended to pod-borne seeds of Phaseolus, such as the common bean and the runner bean, and the related genus Vigna. The term has long been applied generally to seeds of similar form, such as Old World soybeans and lupins, and to the fruits or seeds of unrelated plants such as coffee beans and vanilla beans.4 This article discusses only legumes.
Beans in an early cultivated form were grown in Thailand from the early seventh millennium BCE, predating ceramics.5 Beans were deposited with the dead in ancient Egypt. Not until the second millennium BCE did cultivated, large-seeded broad beans appear in the Aegean region, Iberia, and transalpine Europe.6 In the Iliad, written in the 8th century BCE, there is a passing mention of beans and chickpeas (μελανόχροες ἢ ἐρέβινθοι) cast on the threshing floor.7
Cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata), which include black eyed peas, were domesticated in sub Saharan Africa during the second millennium BCE.89
The oldest-known domesticated beans in the Americas were found in Guitarrero Cave, Peru, dated to around the second millennium BCE.10 Genetic analyses of the common bean Phaseolus show that it originated in Mesoamerica, and subsequently spread southward.11
Most of the kinds of beans commonly eaten today are part of the genus Phaseolus, which originated in the Americas. The first European to encounter them was , while exploring what may have been the , and saw them growing in fields. Five kinds of beans were domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples, selecting and scatter their seeds when ripe: common beans () grown from Chile to the northern part of the United States; lima and sieva beans (); and the less widely distributed teparies (), scarlet runner beans (), and polyanthus beans.
Diversity
Taxonomic range
Beans are legumes, but from many different genera, native to different regions.15
Many beans are summer crops that need warm temperatures to grow, with peas as an exception. Legumes are capable of nitrogen fixation and hence need less fertiliser than most plants. Maturity is typically 55–60 days from planting to harvest.27 As the pods mature, they turn yellow and dry up, and the beans inside change from green to their mature colour. Many beans are vines needing external support, such as "bean cages" or poles. Native Americans customarily grew them along with corn and squash, the tall stalks acting as support for the beans.28
More recently, the commercial "bush bean" which does not require support and produces all its pods simultaneously has been developed.29
Beans can be cooked in a wide variety of casseroles, curries, salads, soups, and stews. They can be served whole or mashed alongside meat or toast, or included in an omelette or a flatbread wrap.34 Other options are to include them in a bake with a cheese sauce, a Mexican-style chili con carne, or to use them as a meat substitute in a burger or in falafels.35 The French cassoulet is a slow-cooked stew with haricot beans, sausage, pork, mutton, and preserved goose.36 Soybeans can be processed into bean curd (tofu)37 or fermented into a cake (tempeh);38 these can be eaten fried or roasted like meat, or included in stir-fries, curries, and soups.394041 Most dry beans contain 21–25% by weight; dry are 36.5% protein by weight.
Some kinds of raw beans contain a harmful, flavourless toxin: the lectinphytohaemagglutinin, which must be destroyed by cooking. Red kidney beans are particularly toxic, but other types also pose risks of food poisoning. Even small quantities (4 or 5 raw beans) may cause severe stomachache, vomiting, and diarrhoea. This risk does not apply to canned beans because they have already been cooked.45 A recommended method is to boil the beans for at least ten minutes; under-cooked beans may be more toxic than raw beans.46
Beans need to be cooked thoroughly to destroy toxins; slow cooking is unsafe as it makes the beans soft without necessarily destroying the toxins.46 A case of poisoning by butter beans used to make falafel was reported; the beans were used instead of traditional broad beans or chickpeas, soaked and ground without boiling, made into patties, and shallow fried.47
Beans have traditionally been considered a food of the poor, as farmers ate grains and vegetables, obtaining their protein from beans, whereas the wealthier classes could afford meat. European society has what Ken Albala calls "a class-based antagonism" to beans.57
Different cultures agree in disliking the flatulence that beans cause, and possess their own seasonings to attempt to remedy it: Mexico uses the herb epazote; India the aromatic resin asafoetida; Germany applies the herb savoury; in the Middle East, cumin; and Japan the seaweed kombu. A substance for which there is evidence of effectiveness in reducing flatulence is the enzyme alpha-galactosidase;57 extracted from the mould fungus Aspergillus niger, it breaks down glycolipids and . The reputation of beans for flatulence is the theme of a children's song "".
Kaplan, Lawrence (2008). "Legumes in the History of Human Nutrition". In DuBois, Christine; Tan, Chee-Beng; Mintz, Sidney (eds.). The World of Soy. NUS Press. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-9971-69-413-5. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
The biodiversity of bean cultivars is threatened by modern plant breeding, which selects a small number of the most productive varieties. Efforts are being made to conserve the germplasm of older varieties in different countries.2425 As of 2023, the Norwegian Svalbard Global Seed Vault holds more than 40,000 accessions of Phaseolus bean species.26
Per capita production decreased. (Population grew 2.4×)
Oil crops (dry)
Soybeans [236]
26.88
88.53
177.02
323.20
334.89
12.46
Increase driven by animal feeds and oil.
Groundnuts, with shell [242]
14.13
20.58
35.82
45.08
43.98
3.11
Fresh vegetables (80–90% water)
Beans, green [414]
2.63
4.09
10.92
23.12
23.60
8.96
Peas, green [417]
3.79
5.66
12.41
19.44
19.88
5.25
Top producers, pulses [1726]a (million metric tons)
Country
2016
Share
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
United States
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),b is India, followed by Myanmar (Burma) and Brazil. In Africa, the most important producer is Tanzania.32
Bean poisoning is not well known in the medical community, and many cases may be misdiagnosed or never reported; figures appear not to be available. In the case of the United Kingdom National Poisons Information Service, available only to health professionals, the dangers of beans other than red beans were not flagged as of 2008.47
Fermentation is used in some parts of Africa to make beans more digestible by removing toxins.48
Other hazards
It is common to make beansprouts by letting some types of bean, often mung beans, germinate in moist and warm conditions; beansprouts may be used as ingredients in cooked dishes, or eaten raw or lightly cooked. There have been many outbreaks of disease from bacterial contamination, often by salmonella, listeria, and Escherichia coli, of beansprouts not thoroughly cooked,49 some causing significant mortality.50
Many types of bean, such as kidney beans, contain significant amounts of antinutrients that inhibit some enzyme processes in the body. Phytic acid, present in beans, interferes with bone growth and interrupts vitamin D metabolism.5152
Many beans, including broad beans, navy beans, kidney beans and soybeans, contain large sugar molecules, oligosaccharides (particularly raffinose and stachyose). A suitable oligosaccharide-cleaving enzyme is necessary to digest these. As the human digestive tract does not contain such enzymes, oligosaccharides are digested by bacteria in the large intestine, producing gases such as methane, released as flatulence.53545556
The Mexican jumping bean is a segment of a seed pod occupied by the larva of the moth Cydia saltitans, and sold as a novelty. The pods start to jump when warmed in the palm of the hand. Scientists have suggested that the random walk that results may help the larva to find shade and so to survive on hot days.61
6Zohary, Daniel; Hopf, Maria; Weiss, Ehud (2012). Domestication of Plants in the Old World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-19-954906-1.
7"And as in some great threshing-floor go leaping From a broad pan the black-skinned beans or peas." (Iliad xiii, 589).
13Mt. Pleasant, Jane (2006). "The science behind the Three Sisters mound system: An agronomic assessment of an indigenous agricultural system in the northeast". In Staller, John E.; Tykot, Robert H.; Benz, Bruce F. (eds.). Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Prehistory, Linguistics, Biogeography, Domestication, and Evolution of Maize. Amsterdam: Academic Press. pp. 529–537. ISBN 978-0-1236-9364-8.
14Pardo B., Oriana; Pizarro, José Luis (2014). Chile: Plantas alimentarias Prehispánicas (in Spanish) (2015 ed.). Arica, Chile: Ediciones Parina. p. 162. ISBN 978-9569120022.
15"Legumes and Pulses". The Nutrition Source. 28 October 2019. Archived from the original on 21 April 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
26"The seeds". Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food. 2023. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
27Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (2013). Early Named Soybean Varieties in the United States and Canada: Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook. Soyinfo Center. p. 452. ISBN 978-1-928914-60-0.
28Schneider, Meg (2008). New York Yesterday & Today. Voyageur Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-1-61673-126-7.
44Thombare, Nandkishore; Jha, Usha; Mishra, Sumit; Siddiqui, M.Z. (July 2016). "Guar gum as a promising starting material for diverse applications: A review". International Journal of Biological Macromolecules. 88: 361–372. Bibcode:2016IJBMm..88..361T. doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2016.04.001. PMID27044346.
48Shimelis, Emire Admassu; Rakshit, Sudip Kumar (April 2008). "Influence of natural and controlled fermentations on α-galactosides, antinutrients and protein digestibility of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)". International Journal of Food Science & Technology. 43 (4): 658–665. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.2006.01506.x.
52Nagel, Ramiel (26 March 2010). "Living With Phytic Acid". The Weston A Price Foundation. Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
55McGee, Harold (2003). Food and Cooking. Simon & Schuster. p. 486. ISBN 978-0684843285. “Many legumes, especially soy, navy and lima beans, cause a sudden increase in bacterial activity and gas production a few hours after they're consumed. This is because they contain large amounts of carbohydrates that human digestive enzymes can't convert into absorbable sugars. These carbohydrates therefore leave the upper intestine unchanged and enter the lower reaches, where our resident bacterial population does the job we are unable to do.”
56Barham, Peter (2001). The Science of Cooking. Springer. p. 14. ISBN 978-3-540-67466-5. “we do not possess any enzymes that are capable of breaking down larger sugars, such as raffinose etc. These 3, 4 and 5 ring sugars are made by plants especially as part of the energy storage system in seeds and beans. If these sugars are ingested, they can't be broken down in the intestines; rather, they travel into the colon, where various bacteria digest them”
57Albala, Ken (15 August 2007). Beans. Oxford: Berg. pp. x, xiv, 1, 12. ISBN 978-1-84520-430-3.
58Di Stefano, Michele; Miceli, Emanuela; Gotti, Samantha; Missanelli, Antonio; Mazzocchi, Samanta; Corazza, Gino Roberto (2007). "The Effect of Oral α-Galactosidase on Intestinal Gas Production and Gas-Related Symptoms". Digestive Diseases and Sciences. 52 (1): 78–83. doi:10.1007/s10620-006-9296-9. PMID17151807.
59Ganiats, T. G.; Norcross, W. A.; Halverson, A. L.; Burford, P. A.; Palinkas, L. A. (1994). "Does Beano prevent gas? A double-blind crossover study of oral alpha-galactosidase to treat dietary oligosaccharide intolerance". The Journal of Family Practice. 39 (5): 441–445. PMID7964541.
A genetically modified bean (GM bean) is a bean that has undergone changes in its genetic material through genetic engineering techniques, providing desirable traits such as resistance to pests and diseases or improved nutritional and digestive quality.
Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which the abundant but relatively inert molecular dinitrogen (N2) is converted into bioavailable nitrogen compounds such as ammonia (NH3) and nitrates (NO3).
Bodily function of expelling intestinal gas from the anus
Flatulence is the expulsion of gas from the intestines via the anus, commonly referred to as farting. "Flatus" is the medical word for gas generated in the stomach or bowels.
Selective breeding of plants and animals to serve humans
Domestication is a multi-generational mutualistic relationship in which an animal species takes over control and care of another organism's development to obtain from the latter a steady supply of…
An oligosaccharide (from Ancient Greek ὀλίγος (olígos) 'few' and σάκχαρ (sákkhar) 'sugar') is a saccharide polymer containing a small number (typically three to ten) of monosaccharides (simple sugars).
Genus (pl.: genera) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses.
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are conventions used in the Gregorian or Julian calendar to specify whether the year is before or after the epoch.
Vegetable gum from the guar bean, Cyamopsis tetragonoloba
Guar gum, also called guaran, is a galactomannan polysaccharide extracted from guar beans that has thickening and stabilizing properties useful in food, feed, and industrial applications.
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language.
