Legumes

Legumes have historically been part of meals throughout the world. There is abundant evidence that the peanut and lima bean have been used for centuries in South America. Soybeans and mung beans, among others, have been a key part of Asian dishes throughout history. The Middle East is the origin of broad beans, chickpeas, and lentils. Because of this, cooking with legumes can provide an education and an introduction to international cuisine.

Most legumes are annual plants that can grow as vines or bushes. The shape, size, and color of the stems, leaves, and flowers differ according to species. After fertilization of the flowers, pods develop. These contain seeds of varying sizes, shapes, and colors.

The plants of the legume family share two main features. First, they produce single-chambered, flattened seedpods with seeds inside. Either the pod or the seeds inside (or both) are eaten.

A second common feature is that legumes are capable of an important biological process called nitrogen fixation, which actually enriches or naturally fertilizes the soil in which the plants grow. Accordingly, legumes (such as soybeans and alfalfa) are grown in rotation with other crops (such as corn) that only take nutrients from the soil.

Legumes are sold in many forms. They are available as whole fresh pods, such as green beans, and in dried pods, such as the tamarind. Lima beans are examples of legumes available as fresh seeds, and dried seeds include black-eyed peas. There are also seed sprouts, such as alfalfa sprouts and soybean sprouts. Although technically considered legumes, tamarind and jicama are treated as a fruit and vegetable, respectively.

Legumes are generally easy to prepare and can be either the main entree or the side dish. Generally, dried legumes are rehydrated before cooking, which is done by soaking them in water for about 6 to 8 hours. An alternative and shorter method is to put them in a pressure cooker or to simmer them in a pan where they can soften in less than an hour. Soaking shortens cooking time by 30 minutes to up to an hour. It also has the advantage of reducing flatulence (intestinal gas) by making them more digestible.

Legumes that are sold as "quick-cooking" have been presoaked and redried before packaging and thus do not need to be soaked.

When several types of legumes are required for a dish, it is best to cook each type separately because it is difficult to cook them uniformly together.

Nutrition

Legumes are great sources of nutrition because they carry the embryonic necessities for starting a new plant. They are high in protein, folic acid, potassium, iron, magnesium, and phytochemicals. Legumes are not complete proteins like meats (soybeans are an exception), but they can be paired with complementary foods, such as grains, to ensure a meal provides a complete source of amino acids for building proteins. And unlike meat, they are low in fat, high in fiber, and inexpensive.

Because of their low cost, legumes were once considered "poor man's meat." But with the increased popularity of ethnic cuisines (such as Mexican, Chinese, and Mediterranean), the growing popularity of vegetarianism, and the recognized health benefits of legumes, they have shed, this outdated perception.

Selection

There are expensive "designer beans," but most legumes are widely available at grocery stores and are an inexpensive addition to meals. Look for a uniform appearance to the product you are buying. Legumes should also have a deep, almost glossy color. Avoid buying products that are cracked, broken, dry-looking, or faded. These are most likely to have been on the shelf for a while.

Storage

Dried legumes are easily stored. Putting them in a covered container or closed plastic bag can help maintain their freshness and extend their shelf life.

Legumes

ALFALFA

BROAD BEANS (Fava Beans)
Commonly called fava beans in the United States, broad beans are also known as haba, English, Windsor, tick, cold, horse, or field beans. Broad beans get their name from the seeds, which are large and flat and look like very large lima beans. The seeds range in length from about a half inch to 2 inches. They can also vary in color from white, green, buff, brown, and purple to black.
Broad beans are an excellent source of nutrition. They are rich in fiber, folic acid, potassium, magnesium, and thiamin, to name just a few nutrients.

CHICKPEAS (Garbanzo Beans)
Botanical and archeological evidence reveals that chickpea plants were first domesticated in the Middle East in ancient times. Today, however, India supplies 80 to 90 percent of the world's supply of chickpeas. The many names that chickpeas go by are a nod to the many regions of the world where they are now grown and eaten. In India, they are referred to as Bengal gram. In Spanish-speaking countries, they are garbanzo. The Arab world refers to them as hamaz (or hummus), and in Ethiopia they are called shimbra.
The plants grow in tropical to temperate regions and reach about 2 feet in height. Plants bear inflated inch-long pods enclosing one or two irregularly shaped seeds. The seeds are about one-quarter to one-half an inch in diameter and can be buff-colored, yellow, brown, black, or green. The plant's young, green pods and sprouts can also be eaten.
Like many legumes, chickpeas are an excellent source of fiber. In addition, they are a good source of magnesium.

COMMON BEANS
Beans provide a good source of dietary fiber. Beans or peas, eaten together or at separate meals, form a high-quality protein essentially equivalent to that from animal sources.
Common beans originated in Central America, where archaeological remains of these beans, found in association with the remains of maize and squash, have been carbon dated to more than 7,000 years of existence. Columbus and subsequent Spanish and Portuguese explorers carried beans back to Europe and eventually introduced them throughout Asia and Africa.

BLACK BEANS
Many people have become acquainted with black beans after eating at Mexican restaurants, where they are served boiled or refried. Also known as turtle beans, black beans are a common part of the cuisine throughout Central and South America, the Caribbean, and the southern United States. As their name indicates, they have a completely black skin. They have a mild, somewhat sweet taste.
Black beans are an excellent source of folate and a good source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and thiamin.

CRANBERRY BEANS
Cranberry beans are about a half-inch long and are brownish with pink splotches that disappear when cooked. Cranberry beans have a nutty flavor. Their creamy, red streaked flesh has a smooth texture.
Nutritionally speaking, cranberry beans are an excellent source of folate and a good source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and copper.

KIDNEY BEANS
As their name suggests, kidney beans are kidney-shaped. They are available in an assortment of colors. Chili lovers will readily recognize the most common kidney bean: the red kidney bean, which has a deep-red color and a full flavor.
Another type of kidney bean is the flageolet; its seeds are small, thin, and pale-green. Mainly available dried, canned, or frozen in the United States, flageolets are more popular in Europe. The cannellini bean is another type of kidney bean. It is large and white and has a more delicate flavor than the red kidney bean.
Kidney beans are an excellent source of folic acid and a good source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, and thiamin.

PINTO BEANS
Pinto means "painted" in Spanish. It is an apt word to describe this bean because they are pink or beige with reddish brown spots and streaks. Pinto beans are popular in the American Southwest and in Mexico, where they are an essential part of everyday cuisine.
From a nutrition perspective, pinto beans are an excellent source of folate and a good source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper, and thiamin.

WHITE BEANS
White bean is a term given to varieties of beans that have light-colored seeds. There are several varieties of white beans:
Marrow beans - The largest and roundest of white beans, marrow beans are often grown in the eastern United States. They are creamy but firm after cooking and usually are available as a dried bean.
Great Northern beans - Great Northern beans are smaller than marrow beans and have a more delicate flavor. They are typically grown in the Midwest. They stand up well to baking.
Navy beans - Most people know these as the beans found in canned pork and bean products. Navy beans require lengthy, slow cooking, which makes them excellent additions to soups and baked dishes.
White beans are an excellent source of iron and folate and a good source of magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and copper.

DOLICHOS BEANS
Derived from the Greek word dolikhos, meaning long or elongated, the general term "dolichos beans" is used to refer to legumes of the genus Vigna and the lablab bean. Common beans considered dolichos beans include the adzuki bean, the black-eyed pea, the lablab bean, and the mung bean.

ADZUKI BEANS (Azuki Beans)
Adzuki beans have been cultivated and enjoyed for many centuries in Asia. The Chinese have attributed mystical power to these beans and believe that they bring good luck. This is one reason they are a part of many foods used at celebrations.
The bean has a rich, somewhat sweet flavor. It has a reddish color. The plant that bears adzuki beans has 5-inch-long cylindrical pods that contain 4 to 12 oblong seeds with flat ends. Adzuki beans are usually sold dried, but they also may be sold as young pods that are eaten like green beans.
Adzuki beans are an excellent source of folate and a good source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, and copper.

BLACK-EYED PEAS
The black-eyed pea has many names, including the cowpea, callivance, cherry bean, frijol, China pea, and Indian pea. It gets its name from the circular black hilum, or "eye," on the seed's inner curve, where it is attached to the pod. The hilum may also be brown, red, or yellow. The seeds can be wrinkled or smooth and range in shape from round to kidney-shaped. The plant that bears black-eyed peas is grown in warm regions of the world and can grow to 3 feet in height.
Black-eyed peas are an excellent source of folate and a good source of magnesium and potassium.

LABLAB (Hyacinth Bean)
Although grown in the United States mainly as an ornamental plant, the lablab is a popular food in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. Seeds are less than a half inch long. Their color ranges from white to brown, red, and black. The plant itself grows as a vine, with large broad leaves.
Lablab is an excellent source of iron and magnesium and a good source of phosphorus, zinc, copper, and thiamin.

MUNG BEAN
Although its name suggests Chinese or Asian cuisine, the mung bean has been grown in India for centuries. India is still one of the leading producers of this legume.
Mung beans are also grown in the United States, where they are sometimes referred to as a "chickasaw pea." Sometimes this bean is also known as green gram, golden gram, and chop suey bean (mung bean sprouts are an important ingredient in this dish).
Mung bean seeds can be green (the most common), yellow, brown, or mottled black. The seeds themselves are tiny about one-eighth inch in diameter.
Nutritionally speaking, the mung bean seed is an excellent source of folic acid and a good source of magnesium, phosphorus, and thiamin.

LENTIL
The lentil was probably one of the earliest legumes to be domesticated. Now cultivated in many parts of the world, the lentil is known as ads in Arabic, merimek in Turkey, messer in Ethiopia, heramame in Japan, and masoor, dal, or gram in India, which is now the leading producer.
This bushy plant reaches a maximum of 2 feet in height. The pods are short, flat, and oblong. Seeds can be red, orange, yellow, brown, or green. The seeds are classified as large (macrospermae) or small (microspermae), with each type containing dozens of varieties.
Lentils, like many legumes, are an excellent source of folate and a good source of potassium, iron, and phosphorus.

LIMA BEANS
Lima beans were originally cultivated in South America, from where they were brought to Europe, Asia, and Africa by European explorers. In the southern United States, lima beans are called butter beans, and the mottled purple varieties are called calico or speckled butter beans. Lima beans also may be referred to as Madagascar beans.
Lima bean plants bear flat, oblong pods about 2 to 4 inches in length that contain two to four smooth, kidney-shaped seeds. There are numerous varieties of lima beans, and their seeds vary in size and color. The commonly sold seeds are pale green, but purple, red, brown, black, and mottled ones are also available. The two most common varieties are the Fordhook and the baby lima, which is smaller and milder.
Lima beans are a good source of magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium.

PEANUTS
Despite their name, peanuts are not nuts at all, but the seeds of a legume. They are commonly thought of as nuts because of how they are used and because of their nut-like shell. The "shells," however, are actually the fibrous seed pods of a legume, encasing one to three seeds wrapped in an edible, papery thin seed coat. These seed pods are easy to crack and range from less than an inch to about 2 inches long and have the same contours as the round seeds underneath.
Peanut plants are separated into either bunch or runner types. The bunch type bears seed pods close to the base of the plant, whereas the runner type has seed pods scattered along the branches. Runner types were introduced in the 1970s and are now more popular than bunch types, probably because runner peanuts are primarily used to make peanut butter, for which half of all peanuts are produced.
Spanish peanuts -a bunch-type peanut with small, round seeds covered by a reddish brown skin -are usually roasted, salted, and vacuum-packed. Virginia peanuts, which can be a runner or a bunch plant, are larger and more oval and are usually sold roasted in the shell.
Peanuts contain quite a bit of fat, but the fat in them is primarily monounsaturated fat. Peanuts are an excellent source of magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, niacin, and folate and a good source of iron.
George Washington Carver, an African-American botanist who worked in the late 19th century, is well known as the "Father of the Peanut Industry" for having ingeniously developed more than 300 uses for the peanut, including as an ingredient in shoe polish, soap, bleach, medicine, ink, paint, and ice cream. In 1890, an American physician invented what we now know as peanut butter to provide an easily digestible, nutritious food for his elderly patients. However, long before this, other cultures made similar edible paste from peanuts.

PEAS
Like peanuts, peas may not be immediately recognizable as a legume, because they are marketed and consumed as a vegetable. But appearances are deceiving because, like other legumes, peas are an excellent source of protein. A serving of peas (about 3/4 of a cup) contains as much protein as a tablespoon of peanut butter, but with far less fat.
The pea is an annual plant that grows from 1 to 5 feet high. It requires a cool, relatively humid climate. There are more than 1,000 different types of peas. Different plants produce smooth-seeded peas, wrinkled-seeded peas, field peas, snow peas, and sugar snap peas.
Smooth-seeded peas are commonly sold frozen, whereas wrinkled-seeded peas are used for canning because they are sweeter. Field peas are grown mainly for drying. Snow peas and sugar snap peas are grown for their edible crisp, sweet pods.
Peas are a good source of iron.

SOYBEANS
If the only soy in your diet comes from the soy sauce you sprinkle on chow mein, you may be missing out on more than just a tasty and versatile food. Soy is an inexpensive way to add protein to your diet and may also help reduce fat when substituted for meat in traditional dishes.
Soy products come from the soybean, a legume native to northern China. The United States now produces much of the world's soybeans. There are more than 1,000 varieties of soybeans. They range in size from a pea to a cherry. Colors include red, yellow, green, brown, and black. The protein in soy is a "complete" protein the most complete you can get from vegetable sources -and just as good nutritionally as animal protein. In fact, there is more protein in 1 cup of soybeans than in 3 ounces of cooked meat. In addition, soybeans are an excellent source of a variety of nutrients, including iron, vitamin B6, and phosphorus, and a good source of potassium and calcium. Also, they are rich in the phytochemicals called isoflavones.
Soybeans are usually processed into other products. For example, soy oil is used to make ink for newspapers. Soybean products are added to a variety of foods during processing. Many foods, though, are made almost entirely from soy.
For cultures in which soy is the main source of protein, rates of cardiovascular disease and some kinds of cancers are relatively low. Researchers are also looking into whether soy plays a role in preventing osteoporosis and easing hot flashes associated with menopause. Some studies suggest there may be a link.
Although it may be too early to make specific health claims for soy, there is evidence that adding soy to your diet makes good nutritional sense. And, you may just discover a whole new range of healthful food products to enjoy.