Properties: Beans
Beans grow on herbaceous, annual plants and are surrounded by bean pods. These are green pod fruits that give the legume their name. The beans themselves are arranged one behind the other in the pods and have a light green to green color. The interior of the beans is also light green to white and has a soft consistency. Mature beans have a diameter of 1 to 2 centimeters with a weight of only a few grams.
Origin: Beans
Beans are a food that has been actively cultivated by humans for several thousand years. Their origins lie in Anatolia, from there they gradually spread throughout the European region as well. Today, beans are grown almost everywhere in the world and in nearly all climate zones. In Germany, Saxony-Anhalt is the federal state with the largest contiguous cultivation area of the country.
Uses: Beans
For beans there are many usage possibilities. The use as soup vegetable or side dish for hearty meals represent the most common forms of utilization. Additionally, beans can also be used for making bean puree or fried green beans.
Storage: Beans
Green beans as fresh vegetables are chilled and have a shelf life of a few days. On the other hand, green beans in frozen or dried form can be stored for longer periods.
Health: Beans
Lentils have a high fiber content and are accordingly good for digestion. Furthermore, they contain numerous vital and mineral substances and are thus overall a very healthy and low-calorie food.
Season
In this country, beans have a season from June to September and can therefore be referred to as classic summer vegetables. Within the summer months, fresh beans can be purchased in retail accordingly. However, frozen beans make up the majority and are available year-round in retail. The bean is a popular vegetable plant for home gardening.
Taste: lightly sweet
The bean – also known as garden bean and food bean – is a foodstuff of humans that dates back to prehistoric times, belonging taxonomically to the genus of beans and the family of butterfly plants. The legumes are used for food production for humans as well as animal feed. Characteristic of the bean is both its crunchy texture and its slightly sweet, fresh taste, which ripe beans exhibit. Beans can be eaten raw, cooked, fried, or sautéed.
Beans as a staple food of our ancestors
Only centuries later did we cultivate the form of bean that we know today, the garden bean, to be able to eat it green, i.e., still in an unripe state. Something that was not possible with previous varieties of beans, as eating them green, as one wanted them, led to health hazards.
Our modern garden bean
The modern garden bean is a plant growing up to two meters high, a herbaceous stem with large leaves and several centimeters long legume fruits containing the beans. In addition, there are now also a whole range of other tasty bean varieties that have developed from the garden bean. Some can be recognized by their changed color, while others can only be distinguished by taste as their beans are green like those of the parent genus.
All who wish to grow their own beans green and tender should pay attention to an appropriate soil. The plants develop best on loamy soils that are very calcareous so they get enough water. To avoid sensitivity in the beans and thus their death, one should not plant a new plant at the same spot after harvesting as it can react negatively to this.
The vegetable of choice - green and fine
While our ancestors needed beans as a main dish, we use the small round vegetable seeds today primarily as side dishes or in salads. Also popular is the bean soup, which mainly uses green beans for its preparation due to their color.
In any case, one should always pay attention when buying that the offered beans look green and crunchy, as the small seeds quickly lose flavor and texture. Therefore, it is recommended to consume freshly purchased or also self-harvested beans quickly or freeze them if necessary, in order to enjoy this generally popular vegetable despite its short shelf life.