Since the times gone by, legumes have been a component of meals all over the world. There is enough proof to substantiate that people in South America have used peanuts as well as lima beans for several centuries.
Among other legumes, soybeans as well as mung beans have always been a vital element in Asian dishes. In fact, lentils, chickpeas and broad beans are native to the Middle East.
This is the reason why culinary using legumes may help to introduce us as well as learn about international gastronomy.
It is important to note that plants belonging to the legume family have two major features in common. First, these plants yield a single chamber, compressed seedpods that contain seeds.
People either consume the seeds or pods; or both. Second, all legumes are able to perform a vital biological process known as nitrogen fixation - that basically improves the quality of the soil or naturally feeds the soil where these plants grow.
As a result, legumes like soybeans as well as alfalfa are cultivated rotating them along with other different crops, for instance, corn, which only absorb nutriments from the soil they grow in.
Majority of legumes are annually growing plants that may develop in the form of bushes or vines. The stems, flowers and leaves of different species have dissimilar color, shape and size.
The legume pods, containing seeds of different colors, shapes and sizes, develop only after the flowers are fertilized.
As legumes contain all the nutrients necessary for a seed to sprout into new, healthy plants, they are a wonderful resource of nourishments. Legumes contain rich levels of folic acid, protein, iron, magnesium, potassium, and phytochemicals.
However, unlike meat, legumes (barring soybeans) are not total proteins, but they may be used in combination with balancing foods like grains to make sure that a meal is endowed with a total supply of amino acids that are necessary for making proteins.
Also, different from meat, legumes contain very less amount of fats, but elevated levels of fiber. At the same time, they are also quite reasonably priced.
As legumes are inexpensive, there was a time when they were regarded as a poor man's food.
However, as ethnic gastronomy like the Mediterranean, Chinese and Mexican are becoming increasingly popular, more and more people preferring vegetarian meals, and the documented health benefits of consuming legumes, this perception has become outdated and they are no longer labelled so inferiorly.
These days, special stores sell very costly 'designer beans', nevertheless majority of the legumes can be bought at the grocery shops and can be incorporated into our meals spending very little money.
While purchasing legumes, you should search for those that have a standardized appearance. In addition, it is necessary for legumes to have a profound and nearly polished color.
It is advisable that you stay away from purchasing products that are broken, cracked, faded or have a dehydrated look. It is very likely that these legumes have been lying unsold for quite some time.
You have no difficulty whatsoever in storing dried up legume. It is best to keep them in plastic bags or tightly sealed containers, as it will help in retaining their freshness as well as prolong the shelf life of legumes.
Legumes are marketed in several different forms. You may buy them in the form of intact fresh pods like green beans and also in the form of dried up pods, as in the case of tamarind.
While lima beans are a good example of legumes that are sold in the form of fresh seeds, black-eyed peas are an instance of legumes available as dried up seeds.
You may also buy them in the form of seed sprouts, as in the case of soybean sprouts or alfalfa sprouts.
It may be noted that while jicama and tamarind are theoretically considered to be legumes, actually they are used in the form of a vegetable and a fruit respectively.
Legumes which are available as the 'quick cooking' variety, are actually soaked and dried once again prior to packing and, therefore, you need not soak them again before cooking.
If you need many different kinds of legume to prepare a dish, the best thing to do is cook different types of legume separately, as cooking them unvaryingly together is quite a difficult task.
Dried up legumes and beans, excluding lentils and black-eyed peas, need to be soaked in water at normal room temperature, as it helps in hydrating them once again for a further uniform cooking.
Prior to soaking them in water, remove the lentils or legumes that may have shrivelled or become discolored as well as any foreign particle present in their lot.
There are different soaking methods and they are subject to the amount of time you have at your disposal. Therefore, you may choose from any of the methods mentioned below depending on the time you actually have.
Slow soak: Place one pound of dried up beans in a cooking pot and cover them with ten cups of water. Cover the pot and keep it in a refrigerator for about anything between 6 hours and 8 hours, or for the night.
Hot soak: Boil ten cups of water in a cooking pot and then add one pound of dried up beans to it. Place the pot on the oven again and bring the water to boil.
Then, remove the pot from the oven, firmly cover the pot and keep it aside at normal room temperature for about two hours to three hours.
Quick soak: Boil ten cups of water in a cooking pot and put in one pound of dried up beans to it. Put the pot on the heat and boil the contents for another two to three minutes. Subsequently, cover the pot and keep it aside at normal room temperature for about an hour.
Gas-free soak: Place one pound of beans in a cooking pot, add about 10 cups or more boiling water to it and place the pot on the oven to boil the contents for another two to three minutes. Subsequently, cover the pot and keep it aside for a night.
On the following day, about 75 per cent to 90 per cent of sugars that are indigestible and may result in formation of gas in the stomach would have been dissolved in the water.
Once you have soaked the dried beans, rinse them and again place them to a cooking pot. This time, you need to cover the soaked beans with water thrice their volume and include your desired spices and herbs in it.
Boil the contents of the pot and, subsequently, lessen the heat and seethe the contents gently. Remove the cover of the pot and stir the contents from time to time till they become softer.
While the time consumed in cooking the beans is subject to their variety, normally you need to begin checking the contents after about 45 minutes. In case the water level drops below that of the beans, add more water to the stockpot.
Here are a few additional tips that would be useful while cooking legumes.
Just before the cooking ends and the beans have become softer, you should add salt as well as all acidic ingredients, for instance, tomatoes, tomato juice and/ or vinegar.
In case you add these substances very early during the cooking time, they can not only harden the beans, but also slow down the whole cooking process.
You should consider the beans to be completely cooked when you are easily able to mash them using a fork or between your fingers.
If you wish to use the cooked beans afterward, you should freeze them. You ought to soak them in chilly water till they become cool, drain the water out and then freeze.
For the uninitiated, one pound of dried up beans generates approximately five to six cupfuls of cooked beans. In the same way, a can containing 15 ounces of dried beans is equivalent to approximately 1.5 cups of cooked beans after they are drained.
People in the United States commonly call broad beans as fava beans. They are also referred to as English, haba, tick, Windsor, cold, field or even horse beans.
Broad beans have been named so because of their seeds that are big and even appearing as extremely big lima beans.
The length of these seeds may vary from approximately 0.5 inch to two inches. They are available in a range of colors, including white, black, brown, green, purple and buff.
Broad beans are a very good supply of nutriments. Among several other nutrients, they have rich folic acid, fiber, magnesium, potassium and thiamin content.
There are enough botanical as well as archeological substantiation that let us know that people in the Middle East cultivated the chickpea plants for the first time during the primeval period.
Nevertheless, currently India provides as much as 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the entire supplies of chickpeas worldwide.
Chickpeas are known by various different names which have been given by people in different regions of the world who now cultivate as well as consume them.
Chickpeas are known as Bengal gram in India, while people in countries having Spanish as the main language call them garbanzo. In the Arab world, chickpeas are called hummus or hamaz. In Ethiopia, people call them as shimbra.
The chickpea plants grow well in places having tropical or temperate climatic conditions and attain a height of approximately two feet. These plants produce inflated pods that are about one inch in length and enclose just one or maybe two seeds having irregular shapes.
Normally, the seeds are anything between 0.25 and 0.5 inch across and may be found in different colors, including green, black, brown, yellow or buff. The tender green sprouts as well as the immature green pods of the plant are also consumed.
Similar to several other legumes, chickpeas too are a wonderful fiber resource. Besides, they also contain a high level of magnesium.
As most of us are familiar, nearly all beans are an excellent resource of nutritional fiber. When peas or beans are consumed together or at different independent meals they develop superior quality protein that is basically same as that obtained from the animal sources.
Common beans are native to Central America. In fact, several archeological remainders of common beans and those of squash and maize have been unearthed from the area. Carbon tests have confirmed that these remains dated back to over 7,000 years.
Christopher Columbus and later several Portuguese and Spanish explorers transported these beans to Europe and they were finally introduced to all over Asia as well as Africa.
If you have ever eaten in any Mexican restaurant you should be familiar with black beans, which are served either refried or boiled by these eateries.
Black beans are also called turtle beans and form a common element of the cooking all over South America as well as Central America, southern regions of the United States and the Caribbean islands.
The name of this variety of beans itself indicates that their color is absolutely black. The flavour of black beans is mild and to some extent sweet.
Black beans provide us with adequate folate and are also an excellent resource of potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and thiamin.
Normally, cranberry beans are approximately 0.5 inch long and have a brownish color with pink spots that fade away when they are cooked. The flavour of these beans is nut-like, while their flesh has an even surface and is cream colored having reddish stripes.
From the nutritional point of view, cranberry beans contain high amounts of folate and are an excellent source of potassium magnesium, iron, phosphorus as well as copper.
The name of this variety of beans itself suggest that they have a shape akin to that of the human kidney. Kidney beans are found in a wide range of hues.
In fact, people who have a preference for chillies will easily distinguish the red kidney beans, which are the most ordinary type of kidney beans. They are profoundly red in color and very delicious.
There are different types of kidney beans. A different sort of kidney bean is known as the flageolet. These seeds of flageolet are small, slender and have a light green hue. In the United States, this type of kidney bean is mostly sold dried, frozen or canned.
Compared to the USA, the flageolet is more well-liked almost all over Europe. Another variety of kidney beans is called cannellini, which is big and has a white color and its flavour is also further subtle in comparison to the most common variety - the red kidney bean.
From the nutritional viewpoint, all varieties of kidney beans form a wonderful resource of folic acid and they also contain high levels of iron, potassium, magnesium, copper, phosphorous as well as thiamin.
In Spanish, the term 'pinto' denotes 'painted'. In fact, this is the most suitable word to depict this particular bean, as they have a beige or pink hue marked with reddish-brown streaks and spots.
These beans are very popular among people in Mexico as well as American southwest and form a vital part of their daily cuisine.
Talking from the nutritional viewpoint, pinto beans are basically a wonderful supply of folate as well as an excellent resource of iron, potassium, magnesium, copper, phosphorus, in addition to thiamin.
White bean is not any specific bean, but various beans having pale hued seeds. Therefore, there are many different varieties of white beans and some of them are mentioned below.
All varieties of white beans contain very high amounts of folic acid (folate) and iron. In addition, they also form an excellent source of potassium, phosphorus, copper and magnesium.
The word 'dolichos' has its origin in the Greek expression 'dolikhos', denoting long or lengthened. Therefore, when we talk about 'dolichos beans' in general, we mean legumes that belong to the genus Vigna as well as lablab beans or hyacinth beans.
The common beans that are regarded as dolichos beans comprise black-eyed pea, adzuki bean, mung bean and lablab bean.
People in Asia have grown as well as taken delight in adzuki beans, also known as azuki beans, for several centuries now. In fact, the Chinese believe that these beans possess supernatural powers and usher in a stroke of luck.
This is one of the many reasons why they use the azuki or adzuki beans in foods prepared during their celebrations.
This variety of beans is reddish in color and possesses a rich and to some extent a sweet flavour. Adzuki bean plants produce seed pods that are cylindrical in shape with flat endings, about five inches in length and contain anything between 4 and 12 seeds.
Normally, these beans are marketed dry, but occasionally they are also available in the form of immature seed pods that are consumed in the same way as green beans are eaten.
Like many other varieties of beans, even adzuki beans are a wonderful resource of folate (folic acid) and contain high levels of iron, potassium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus and copper.
Black-eyed peas have various other names, counting cowpea, cherry bean, Indian pea, China pea, frijol and callivance.
This variety of legume has been named such owing to the round black-hued hilum or 'eye' found in the inner curve of the pea - the point where it is connected with the seed pod.
In addition to having a black color, the hilum of black-eyed peas may also be red, brown or even yellow. These peas are found in an assortment of forms varying from kidney-shaped to round and may have an even or creased surface.
The black-eyed pea plant is cultivated worldwide in places having a warm climatic condition and this plant usually grows up to a height of three feet.
Similar to most other legumes, this variety is also rich in folic acid content and it also encloses high levels of potassium and magnesium.
Lablab, also known as hyacinth bean, is primarily cultivated in the USA in the form of a decorative plant. However, this variety of beans forms a well-like food in several places, including South and Central America, Asia and Africa.
These beans or seeds are below 0.5 inch in length and they are available in a number of colors - white, black, brown and red, to name a few. Plants of lablab grow on their own in the form of vines and bear big and wide leaves.
Lablab or hyacinth beans are a wonderful source of magnesium and iron and also contain rich amounts of thiamin, copper, zinc and phosphorus.
The name of this variety of legume may hint that it is used in Chinese or Asian cooking, but, in reality, people in India have cultivated the mung bean for several centuries and, till date, India remains a major cultivator of this variety of legume.
However, this variety of legume is cultivated in the United States too and is known as 'chickasaw pea' in this western nation.
Occasionally, it is also referred to as green gram, chop suey bean (this is because the sprouts of mung bean form a vital constituent of chop suey) and golden gram.
While the seeds of the most common mung beans are usually green, they may also be found having brown, yellow or spotted black hue. The seeds of mung bean are very small, measuring just approximately 1/8 inch across.
From the nutritional viewpoint, the seeds of mung bean are a wonderful supply of folate (folic acid) and they are also rich in thiamin, magnesium and phosphorus content.
Perhaps, the lentil was among the earliest legumes to be cultivated by man. Currently, this variety of legume is grown in several regions across the globe and is known by different names in different regions.
In Arabic, lentil is called ads, in Turkey it is known as merimek, in Japan it is called heramame, in Ethiopia lentil is referred to as messer and people in India call it masoor, dal or gram. In fact, India is currently the largest producer of lentil worldwide.
The plant that bears lentil is actually a bush that grows up to a height of about two feet. The seed pods of lentil are small, even and oblong-shaped.
The lentil seeds may be found in different colors, including green, yellow, red, brown or orange. The lentil seeds are categorized as macrospermae (large) or microspermae (small) and each category has several dozen varieties.
Similar to several other varieties of legumes, lentils too are a wonderful source of folic acid and also contain high levels of iron, phosphorus and potassium.
Initially, lima beans were grown in South America and, later, the European explorers carried this legume to Europe, Africa and Asia.
In the southern region of the United States, people refer to lima beans as butter beans, while the spotted purple varieties of this legume are known as speckled butter beans or calico. In addition, lima beans are also called Madagascar beans.
The lima bean seed pods are even and oblong-shaped growing up to a length of two inches to four inches. Each seed pod typically encloses about 2 to 4 smooth-surfaced seeds having the shape of human kidney.
Lima beans are found in many varieties and their seeds differ in color as well as size.
The seeds that are marketed commonly have a light green hue, but seeds having red, purple, black, spotted and brown colors are also sold in the market.
Two varieties of lima beans that are sold most extensively are known as Fordhook and baby lima bean - a variety that is comparatively small as well as mild.
All varieties of the lima beans supply us with rich amounts of phosphorus, magnesium and potassium.
Their name notwithstanding, peanuts are simply just nuts. Basically, peanuts are seeds of a variety of legume. Generally, people think that peanuts are nuts owing to the manner in which they use them and also because they are enclosed by a shell similar to that of the nuts.
Nevertheless, the so-called 'shells' of peanuts are, in fact, a legume's fibrous seed pods that enclose roughly between one and three seeds that are covered by a paper-thin, edible seed coat.
It is very easy to break open these seed pods that may grow up to a length of one inch to two inches. The contours of these seed pods are similar to those of the rounded seeds they enclose.
Plants that bear peanuts are classified into two types - runner or bunch. The runner variety of peanut plants produce seeds spread out the length of their branches, while the bunch variety produces seed pods that are near the base of the plants.
In fact, the runner variety was introduced as recently as the 1970s and since then has turned out to be more acceptable compared to the bunch variety.
This is possibly owing to the fact that the runner type peanuts are mainly used to manufacture peanut butter. In fact, nearly 50 per cent of the entire peanut production worldwide is used to make peanut butter.
The variety known as Spanish peanuts actually belongs to the bunch type and produces little, rounded seeds that are wrapped by a skin having a reddish-brown hue.
Spanish peanuts are generally salted, roasted and vacuum-packed. On the other hand, the variety called Virginia peanuts may be both runner as well as bunch.
The seeds of Virginia peanuts are normally bigger in size and further oval-shaped and marketed after being roasted in their shells.
Unlike most legumes, peanuts enclose some amount of fats, but the fat present in peanuts is mainly monounsaturated fat.
Peanuts provide us with sufficient amounts of folic acid, niacin, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium and copper, in addition to being a wonderful resource of iron.
A botanist of African-American origin who worked during the later part of the 19th century, George Washington Carver is renowned as the 'Father of the Peanut Industry' owing to his original work for developing over 300 new utilities for peanuts, counting using them in the form of a constituent of soap, medicine, shoe polish, paint, ink, bleach and also ice cream.
Peanut butter, which is a popular food today, was created by an American physician way back in 1890. His objective in inventing peanut butter was to make a food available for his aged patients that can be digested easily and is nourishing.
Nevertheless, much before this invention, people in several cultures used peanuts to prepare edible pastes that were akin to peanut butter.
Similar to peanuts, one may not instantly recognize peas to be a legume, as they are always sold as well as eaten in the form of a vegetable.
However, the looks may mislead, as, similar to other varieties of legumes, peas too form a wonderful resource of protein. One serving (roughly 3/4 cup) of peas encloses an equal amount of protein contained by one tablespoonful of peanut butter, but much less fat.
The pea plant is annually growing and reaches up to a height of anything between one foot and five feet. A breezy and comparatively moist climate is necessary for this plant to grow and thrive.
There are numerous different varieties of peas, perhaps over 1,000 dissimilar types. The dissimilar pea plants bear different types of peas - wrinkle-seeded peas, smooth-seeded peas, sugar snap peas and snow peas.
Normally, the smooth-seeded pea variety is marketed in a frozen condition, while the wrinkled-seeded pea type is canned as they are comparatively sweeter.
On the other hand, field peas are mostly cultivated for drying up. Sugar snap peas and snow peas are cultivated mainly because of their seed pods that are snappish and sweet flavoured.
All varieties of peas are an excellent resource of iron.
In case you are only ingesting soy by means of sprinkling soy sauce on chow mein, you ought to know that you are missing an opportunity to obtain the benefits offered by a food that is not only multipurpose, but also very flavourful.
In fact, soy still remains a very reasonably priced food that can help to incorporate protein into your diet. In addition, it may possibly also help in lessening fat when it is used as a substitute for meat in the more conventional cuisines.
All soy products are made from soybeans, which is a legume having its origin in the northern region of China. Currently, the United States is one of the largest producers of soybeans worldwide.
Similar to peas, soybeans are also found in numerous varieties - more than 1,000 different types.
These soybeans differ in their size and may be as small as a pea or of the dimension of a cherry and are available in a host of hues, including green, yellow, red, black and brown.
The protein present in soybeans is said to be a 'complete' protein - the most absolute that one can obtain from vegetable resources. From the nutritional viewpoint, it is equally good as proteins obtained from animal sources.
Believe it or not, compared to three ounces of prepared meat, one cup of soybeans contains more protein.
Besides, soybeans are also a wonderful resource of various nutriments, counting vitamin B6, phosphorus and iron, in addition to providing us ample amounts of calcium and potassium. Soybeans also contain high levels of the phytochemical known as isoflavone.
Normally, soybeans are processed to prepare other food products, for instance, soy oil which is utilized to manufacture ink for printing newspapers.
In addition, products prepared from soybeans are incorporated into various foods while processing. However, there are numerous foods that are more or less completely made from soybeans.
It is interesting to note that incidences of cardiovascular ailments as well as a number of cancer forms are comparatively less in cultures whose diet comprises soybeans as the primary protein source.
Currently, scientists are engaged in researching whether or not soy has any function in putting off the development of osteoporosis and also alleviating hot flashes that are related to menopause.
According to the findings of a number of studies, some relation may exist between soybean consumption and these health conditions.
While it is perhaps very premature to make any precise health claim related to the use of soybeans or soy products, there are ample substantiation that incorporating soy into one's diet is very sensible from the nutritional point of view.
Besides nutriments, consuming soy products will also help you to simply discover an entire new variety of healthy foods that you may take delight in.
