Bean

Bean From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Bean (disambiguation). "Painted Pony" dry bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) Bean (/ˈbiːn/) is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae (alternately Leguminosae) which are used for human or animal food. Contents 1 Terminology 2 Cultivation 3 History 4 Types 5 Toxins 6 Nutrition 7 Flatulence 8 Production 9 See also 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 External links Terminology The term bean originally referred to the seed of the broad or fava bean,[citation needed] but was later expanded to include members of the New World genus Phaseolus, such as the common bean and the runner bean, and the related genus Vigna. The term is now applied generally to many other related plants such as Old World soybeans, peas, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), vetches, and lupins.[citation needed] Bean is sometimes used as a synonym of pulse,[citation needed] an edible legume, though the term pulses is more correctly reserved for leguminous crops harvested for their dry grain. The term bean usually excludes crops used mainly for oil extraction (such as soy-beans and pea-nuts), as well as those used exclusively for sowing purposes (such as clover and alfalfa). Leguminous crops harvested green for food, such as snap peas, snow peas, and so on, are not considered beans, and are classified as vegetable crops. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization the term bean should include only species of Phaseolus; however, a strict consensus definition has proven difficult because in the past, several species such as Vigna angularis (azuki bean), mungo (black gram), radiata (green gram), aconitifolia (moth bean)) were classified as Phaseolus and later reclassified. The use of the term bean to refer to species other than Phaseolus thus remains. In some countries, the term bean can mean a host of different species.[1] In English usage, the word bean is also sometimes used to refer to the seeds or pods of plants that are not in the family leguminosae, but which bear a superficial resemblance to true beans—for example coffee beans, castor beans and cocoa beans (which resemble bean seeds), and vanilla beans, which superficially resemble bean pods. Cultivation Field beans (broad beans, Vicia faba, ready for harvest Unlike the closely related pea, beans are a summer crop that need warm temperatures to grow. Maturity is typically 55–60 days from planting to harvest. As the bean pods mature, they turn yellow and dry up, and the beans inside change from green to their mature colour. As a vine, bean plants need external support, which may be provided in the form of special "bean cages" or poles. Native Americans customarily grew them along with corn and squash (the so-called Three Sisters), with the tall cornstalks acting as support for the beans. In more recent times, the so-called "bush bean" has been developed which does not require support and has all its pods develop simultaneously (as opposed to pole beans which develop gradually). This makes the bush bean more practical for commercial production. History The Beaneater (1580-90) by Annibale Carracci Cooked beans on toast Beans are one of the longest-cultivated plants. Broad beans, also called fava beans, in their wild state the size of a small fingernail, were gathered in Afghanistan and the Himalayan foothills.[2] In a form improved from naturally occurring types, they were grown in Thailand since the early seventh millennium BCE, predating ceramics.[3] They were deposited with the dead in ancient Egypt. Not until the second millennium BCE did cultivated, large-seeded broad beans appear in the Aegean, Iberia and transalpine Europe.[4] In the Iliad (8th century BCE) is a passing mention of beans and chickpeas cast on the threshing floor.[5] Beans were an important source of protein throughout Old and New World h