bean - Name, Types of beans, Cultural aspects, Toxins, Flatulence

A general name applied to the seeds of many plants, but particularly those belonging to the pea family, Leguminosae, many of which are edible.

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) used for food or feed.

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. Leguminous crops harvested green for food like snap beans, green peas etc.

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).

Types of beans

Vicia Faba or broad bean Vigna 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) Cicer arietinum or chickpea Pisum sativum or pea Lathyrus 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 Cajanus cajan or pigeon pea Stizolobium spp or velvet bean Cyamopsis tetragonoloba or guar Canavalia ensiformis or jack bean Macrotyloma M. mutabilis or tarwi Erythrina or Coral bean

Cultural aspects

The following traditional uses of beans refer to the broad bean. 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. "Beans Beans the Magical Fruit..." The song is noteworthy for correctly identifying the bean as a fruit, not a vegetable.

Toxins

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 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, a type of sugar molecule also found in cabbage.