Magnolias

Ingredients

• General & History
• Terms & Definitions - what's called what.
• Beans, Peas and Lentils - Varieties
• Products made from Beans
• Links - to information on Legumes

Nearly all of the beans most Americans are familiar with are from South and Central America, unknown to Europe and Asia until the 1500s. These include green (string) beans, navy beans, lima beans, peanuts, pinto beans, kidney beans and the like. Fava beans and Lupini beans were the beans known in Europe and the Mediterranian before discovery of the New World.

Lentils, peas and fava beans were unknown in the New World until brought the Mediterranian by European traders, as were beans of the and the Vigna genus (black-eye peas, mung beans, etc.). Peas and Lentils probably originated in Western Asia and/or the Near East, mung, urad and adzuki beans probably originated in India, while soybeans originated in China and black-eye peas in Africa.

By far the largest selection of beans, peas and lentils in daily use is found in India where both New World and Old World pulses are a major and essential part of the diet over the entire subcontinent.

Particularly important to India is dal, the word for peas lentils and beans that have been split and peeled. The dal version of any pulse requires just a fraction of the soaking and cooking time of whole dried pulses. This is important in a fuel short country, but other benefits are a softer smoother texture and more subtle flavors. Dal, however, is a tricky word and is sometimes used for the whole unpeeled version.

An aditional imporance of legumes is their symbiotic relationship with rizobia bacteria. These bacteria live in legume root nodules where they are provided with oxygen and other nutrients in return for "fixing" atmospheric nitrogen into compounds usable for plant nutrition. By rotating legume crops with grain or vegetable crops growers can prevent the depletion of this essential nutrient in the soil. These nitrogen compounds are necessary for the formation of protein, essential for human and animal nutrition.

• Bean - the seeds of beans are generally elongated or even rectangular. Distinctly different forms originated in China, India, South and Central America and the Mediterranian (see General & History).
• Dal - [Dhall] - an Indian term that most commonly indicates the peeled and split form of dried beans, peas and lentils, but loosely used and sometimes refers to the whole form. Dal is also the word for a finished dish of cooked dal, particularly in Southern India.
• Gram - an Indian term that most commonly indicates the whole unpeeled form of dried beans, peas and lentils, but loosely used and sometimes refers to the peeled and split form.
• Legume - botanical - the general term for all bean, pea and lentil plants and all parts thereof, from tiny herbs to giant trees. This is the definition used in these pages.
• Legume - culinary - in some culinary terminologies, particularly the French, "legume" refers only to the whole pod, as in string beans. On this site we use the botanical definition.
• Lentil - the seeds of lentils are flattened and lense shaped. Lentils probably originated in western Asia.
• Pea - Peas proper are members of the species Pisum sativum, with generally round seeds, but the term is also used for a number of beans. Peas probably proper originated in Western Asia.
• Pulse is a collective term for the edible seeds of beans, peas and lentils.

• Fresh Beans (imature pods) should not be overcooked. Just a few minutes followed by quenching in cold water is usually fine, then add to recipes at the last moment.

• Fresh Beans ("shell beans") still need substantial cooking as they will have a bitter "raw bean" flavor. They should, however, need substantially less cooking time than pre-soaked beans.
• Fresh Peas are not bitter as are most fresh beans but still need some cooking time. Add them to recipes near the end with about 5 minutes or so of cooking to go.
  Frozen Peas, on the other hand have already been cooked and should be mixed into a recipe in the last couple of minutes so they won't be overcooked.

• Canned beans are actually pre-soaked and lightly cooked dried beans. Dried beans are always used because they are tremendously easier to shell and process than undried beans.
• Canned green beans, if you must use them, are already cooked and should be added to recipes with just enough cooking time to bring them to temperature.
• Canned peas are an abomination but may be necessary for authenticity in some Soviet era Russian recipes. In general, use fresh or frozen peas whenever possible.

• Salt or no salt? Some hold that if you cook unsoaked beans in water with salt added you will have tougher beans than with no salt. The Los Angeles Times says their test kitchen has completely disproven this. My admitedly less rigorous tests disagree with the LA Times - but the difference is small and would have probably evened out with slightly longer cooking (I deliberately cooked both batches for a minimum time).
• Soak or not soak? We all have times we must cook dried beans without a pre-soak (8 hours or so for most popular beans), and they will cook OK, though it takes an hour or more longer. The presoaked beans will also look a lot better with fewer breaking apart or losing their skins.

  For southern Indian cooking, dal (split and peeled beans, peas and lentils) are not pre-soaked unless a creamy texture is desired. In any case, dals need only a fraction of the soaking time of whole beans, peas and lentils.

• Canned Beans: Bean conoisseurs consider pre-soaked and cooked superior but canned can be used in their place. Acutally canned beans are generally also made from dried beans.

• Protein - Bean are high in protein and a very important food crop for much of the world. That protein is not complete, however, but its deficiencies are compensated by the grains such as rice, corn and wheat. Grains are also deficient, but their strengths and weaknesses are opposite those of beans. Vegetarians need not eat the two together but the alternate should be be present in the next meal or so for maximum nutrition.
• Farting: - This is caused by indigestable sugars which vary in concentration from one variety of bean to another. The enzyme needed to break these down in the small intestine is generally lacking in humans but can be added to the meal. A substance called "Beano" is marketed for this purpose. Some herbs, such as Epazota are said to help.
• Soy Beans - are not considered safe by many researchers. They contain vegetable estrogens and other toxins that may cause health and particularly child development problems. Traditional fermented soybean products such as miso and soyu are considered safe and tofu is considered safe in moderate quantity because most of the toxins are washed out of it.