Various Beans
Anasazi® beans: Anasazi is a Navajo word meaning 'the ancient ones', and refers to the Anasazi cliff dwelling Indians who lived in the "Four Corners" area of what is now the meeting point of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico about 130 CE. The Indians of the American Southwest and Mexico still grow and treasure these beans, generally believed to be the descendants of the Jacob's cattle bean, which they closely resemble. However, the anasazi beans are slightly smaller, more plump, and without the freckles. Instead, they are burgundy and white mottled beans with a sweet flavour and meaty texture, making them a very good baking bean. They are also a close relative of the Appaloosa bean. The anasazi bean was originally found in the ruins of cliff dwellers by settlers in the early 1900s and are now registered to, and are grown exclusively by, the Adobe Milling Company of Dove Creek, Colorado. Grown at a high altitude of about 7,000 feet, Anasazi beans supposedly contain 75% less of the gas-causing carbohydrates found in pinto beans.
Appaloosa beans are red and white and resemble the markings of the pony by the same name. They can be used interchangeably with pink, red, or pinto beans, as well as with the Anasazi bean, of which they are sometimes erroneously called. Also called the red appaloosas, these slender, oval beans are good for baking as they hold their shape well and have a rich flavour. They also make a good substitution for black-eyed peas and in some chili dishes.
Asian beans (Vigna unguiculata, formerly sinensis) include a group of very small, slightly oblong beans with a prominent small eye. China is probably the original home of the red adzuki bean, although it was introduced into Japan about 1,500 years ago. They are eaten whole with their skins, although in India, they are sold already shelled in the form of dal. The major varieties of these mung-type beans are the green mung, black mung (gram), and red bean or azuki.
Barlotti beans, from Tuscany, are also called Tuscan beans. Normally found in their dried form, borlotti beans are plump and round in shape, having a pinkish-tan background speckled and streaked with crimson. They are similar to the cranberry bean and can be intrchanged with them. In Italy, members of this family of small, kidney-shaped speckled beans are sought out in their specific regions of cultivation They include the varieties lamon, stregoni, scritti, and saluggia. All of them share a meaty flavour and mild earthiness. Borlotti beans are used either fresh or dried. The small ones soften during cooking and taste bitter-sweet. The large ones are used in many Italian dishes, and an indispensable ingredient in minestrone.
Black Appaloosa beans are also called cave beans, so named because they were supposedly found in the desert soil near cave dwellings in the southwest US. They have striking black and white markings, with a distinctively flat and angular shape. Because of their visual appeal, they are well-suited for salads and baked bean dishes, as they hold their shape and colour well after being cooked.
Black beans, frijoles negros, turtle beans, Spanish or Mexican black beans, lablab are of medium size, and slightly squarish in shape. They are a matte black or a very deep purple, with a small white line on the ridge; but the inside is creamy white. The flavour has a hint of mushrooms and are favoured throughout Latin America, South and Central America, and the Caribbean, where they originally grew as New World beans. They are the basis for Brazil's weekly traditional dish called feijoada and the Cuban black bean soup. All black beans are considered to be closely related to the kidney bean, and turn purplish when cooked.
Black gram urd, urid/urad, dal/dhal, mung bean (Vigna mungo) is the most important member of this family of beans in India. They are classified as two varieties: early ripening that have large black seeds, and later-ripening which have smaller, olive green seeds. The black gram is a member of the same family as the mung bean and indigenous to Africa, Asia, and the West Indies. They should not be mistaken for pigeon peas or red grams, which are of similar size and shape. These beans are small, oval, and black-skinned, with a pale yellow or whitish interior. Their texture is glutinous. They are also used as a seasoning in South India, where beans are thrown into hot oil to give them a red colour and nutty flavour. Black gram beans need a long time to cook and can be hard to digest for some people. In the split form, with the skins removed and only the white interior remaining, it is called a "split white lentil", which is easier to digest. This is the form that is also milled into flour, while the unhulled black gram (urid dhal) is most often available dried.
Black Shackamaxon bean is an old variety of pole bean that was preserved among Quaker farmers of southeastern Pennsylvania and south New Jersey and said to be of Lenape Indian origin. It is named after a place called Shackamaxon along the Delaware River, now the city of Philadelphia. This bean has never been grown commercially. A seedsman from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, had preserved them. When freshly shelled, the seeds are a bright navy blue and as they dry, turn a purplish blue.
Bobby beans are garden beans of plump cross-section with a fairly large number of seeds.
Bolita beans are from a western heirloom variety grown by Native Americans throughout the Southwest. The Spanish who settled in northern New Mexico cultivated and developed them. They are a rich-tasting bean with more depth and flavour than its close relative, the pinto bean, and can be used interchangeably for other beans in most dishes.
Brown lazy wife beans are also known as 'lentil beans' among the Pennsylvania Dutch. They are small brown beans named for how quickly they cook rather than from some potentially interesting story. They are commonly grown in the hills of western Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio, where they may have originated. They are also a popular soup bean in Germany, Switzerland, and northern Italy. It is believed that these beans were taken from Pennsylvania to Switzerland almost 300 years ago, where they were often combined with lentils, leading to its other nickname.
Calypso beans, Steuben yellow eye beans are an absolutely beautiful hybrid of the white bean. Round, plump, and half white and half black with a black polka dot for emphasis, these beans are a novelty with the perfect Chinese yin and yang harmony imprinted on its surface. This variety is at least 400 years old and has acquired numerous names along the way including Maine yellow eye and butterscotch calypso. It is supposed that this was the original bean used in the infamous recipe of Boston baked beans. It has a velvety texture, a mellow flavour, plumps up well during cooking, but turns to an ivory brown after cooking. Another variety of calypso bean is popular in Europe. It has streaked black and white markings. (see also Haricots)
Cannellini beans, white kidney beans, haricots blancs, fasolia, fagioli are white, oval, and kidney-shaped, with a tough seed coat and a smooth texture. They were originally cultivated in South America; but they are usually associated with, and extremely popular in, central Italy, Greece, and France. As members of the haricot bean family, the cannellini bean was the first to be cultivated in Argentina and then commercially grown in Italy. Although larger than the haricot bean, their creamy smooth, but firm, texture and mild, nutty flavour makes them extremely versatile. Also known as white kidney beans and haricots blancs in France, they need to be cooked slowly to keep their shape. They are often found canned.
Castor beans (Ricinus communis -- Family Euphorbiaceae) are members of the Spurge family, rather than the legume, despite its name. The beans are poisonous, containing the phytotoxin, ricin. Symptoms include burning in the mouth and throat, nausea and vomiting, severe stomach pains, bloody diarrhea, excessive thirst, prostration, dullness of vision, convulsions, kidney failure, and death up to twelve days later. It only takes one to three seeds for a child to die, and two to eight for an adult. However, the oil extracted from the seeds is important commercially and is not poisonous. The oil is used in medicines (castor oil), soaps, and as a lubricant.
China yellow beans, sulphur beans are named because of their colour; but, in spite of their name, they are not from China, but native to Maine. They have a silky soft texture and a mellow flavour.
European soldier beans are so named because their colouring has an obvious resemblence to a toy soldier. How this is possible in such a tiny bean is anyone's guess, but likely came as a result of an early New England term, red-coats, which referred to the uniforms of the British soldiers. The distinctive markings are also said to resemble a soldier in Napoleon's army. They have a slightly mealy texture, and should be slow-cooked whole to maintain their distinctive markings.
Flageolet bean or Flageolets de Chevrier is regarded as a delicacy, and therefore, the most expensive of all beans. It is actually the immature, kidney shaped, pod seeds that are removed early. These underripe bean seeds are then eaten fresh or dried. They are usually a light green, but can be red and resemble the inner seeds of common green beans. Originating, in the Americas, the flageolet is a variety of haricot beans, first developed by Gabriel Chevrier in Brittany in 1872, and now cultivated mainly in France and Italy. They are traditionally eaten cold with an herb dressing or accompanying other salad items. This bean does not need soaking as it has a very delicate thin skin. It does require gentle, slow cooking, and only until just tender, as it will quickly turn mushy. The Great Northern bean is the North American version of the French haricot, the smaller French flageolet, and the Italian cannellini. The old Mexican word for bean was "ayacotl", which was corrupted to form the French word "haricot", which is now the generic term used by the French for all of their beans.
French horticultural bean is an early heirloom variety in the Cranberry Bean family. It is also known as the October bean and is delicious in most every dish requiring beans. It has a firm texture and a sweet, nutty flavour.
French navy bean is smaller than the American version, but still an ivory white with a tinge of green. It is especially creamy and tender and cooks rather quickly.
Green bean, French bean, garden bean (Phaseolus vulgaris ssp. vulgaris) is classified as either a climbing or bush variety. The climbing varieties (Phaseolus vulgaris ssp. vulgaris var. vulgaris) have numerous types that are distinguished according to their colour and pod shape. They generally have broad, flat pods and are marketed as coco beans or wide beans. Their main advantage is that they are quick and easy to trim. Important varieties include the yellow wax bean and the purple-pod snap bean. The bush varieties include the thin bean, bush bean, and dwarf French bean. The thin bean is a mutant variety which arose by chance from the creeping form. It is distinguished according to colour, length, and cross-section of the pods. Among the most important types are the tender princess bean, the wax, bean, the snap bean, and the sugar bean. Bush beans are the type most often used in commercial canning and freezing and the ones easily harvested by machine.
Giant White Coco beans are large, flat, French white beans highly prized by French chefs as a side dish. They are similar in size and texture to the Emergo bean and sold by specialty suppliers.
Green Romano bean is a fresh Italian green bean that has become a seasonal treat for those outside of Italy. It is a flat and wide green bean with a pronounced flavour. When young, the beans are quite tender; but by the time they reach about six inches and the inner bean seeds become visible, they are better dried and cooked for a longer period of time. Romano beans hold up well during cooking and do not disintegrate or become mushy. They also take well to such strong flavourings as garlic.
Jackson wonder bean comes in mottled shades of beige and purplish-brown. It was popularized in Atlanta, Georgia, in the 1880s, where it became known as a good soup bean because of its creamy texture.
Jacob's cattle bean, coach dog, Dalmatian bean, trout bean is a kidney-shaped heirloom bean grown in New England since colonial days. It is long, slim, creamy white with a large dark maroon-coloured splotch and tiny satellite freckles of the same colour.
Madeira/Madera bean is a oval, flat, mottled, brown bean and the largest member in the Cranberry family. This bean originated in South America and was taken to Portugal, where it was adopted for national dishes. It was then taken to the US by Portuguese and Italian immigrants. This bean has a floury texture and a chestnut-like flavour. Though smaller, the cranberry or scarlet runner bean is acceptable substitutes in recipes.
Marrow bean is the roundest of the white beans and has a distinctive flavour.
Monstoller wild goose bean is a very large bean that is white on the bottom and heavily speckled with brown and maroon with an orange patch around the "eye". The story is told of Civil War veteran, John Monstoller, who is said to have shot down a wild goose that had these beans in its craw. It is now very well-known among heirloom seed savers. The bean was planted in 1866 and has been preserved ever since by the same family.
Moth bean, mat bean (Vigna aconitifolius) is harvested when the pods are fully ripe. The pods can contain four to nine small seeds. Indigenous to India, it is the most drought-resistant species of bean and the basis of many of the national dishes in India.
Mortgage lifter bean is an extremely large, white, heirloom variety that tastes similar to the butter bean. The name came as a result of a farmer who was about to lose his land to the bank, but instead, had a good crop of these beans, which lifted his mortgage.
Munsi wolf bean is an heirloom variety, originally grown by the Lenape Indians of Delaware Water Gap. It is also known as the speckled minisink bean.
Nuña is a New World bean also known as "popping bean". It can be popped like popcorn, doubling in size and yielding a bean with a roasted nut flavour and a snack that is very high in fiber and protein, and having less oil than peanuts. Some say it has a sweet "Cracker Jacks" flavour, while others think they are more like peanuts. This bean thrives in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. It ranges in colour from purple to gold to cream while some are speckled. However, it does not seem to be able to pop at lower elevations and scientists are trying to find out why.
Painted pony bean is similar to the appaloosa bean in that it also has markings similar to those of a pony. It is also related to the pinto bean. Of Mexican origin, this bean is slender and oval. Its colouring shades from cream and beige all the way to brown and black. Rich and nutty in flavour, it is excellent in chili or other slow-cooked bean dishes.
Pink bean, pinquito bean is an heirloom variety. It is smaller and not as square as the pinto and less uniform in size and colour. It resembles the shape of the small red bean and can be used interchangeably with it. The pink bean has a sweet, rich, meaty flavour with a slight mealy textrue, quite similar to the pinto bean.
Princess bean is a short-podded bush bean that is picked young. It is stringless and contains only small thin seeds, making it ideal for canning.
Rattlesnake bean is so named because their pods twist around like snakes as they grow. This slender, oval bean is speckled brown over a tan background, and is closely related to the pinto bean. Its flavour is richer and more intense than the pinto, making it an excellent choice for bean dishes.
Red valentine bean has six-inch, narrow pods, making it an ideal substitute for green beans. This bean is heavily speckled in deep-wine red over a pink background. In Germany, it is called Turkish date beans; and, when dried, is called "one-thousand-for-one" or purple-speckled valentine or refugee bean.
Rice bean (Vigna umbellata) is so small, it is the size of a grain of rice and used as a substitute for that grain. Originally from Asia, the rice bean is also grown in Africa and the northeast part of India and adjoining regions to the east. It ranges in colour from yellow to red to brown and black. It has a delicate flavour, soft texture, and is highly nutritious. Since it grows like vines, the seed pods tend to open on their own, scattering the very tiny seeds and making harvest very difficult. Because of their rapid growth, the rice bean ripens between one rice harvest and the sowing of the next.
Rosecoco bean, borlotti, salugia, crab-eye bean is very similar to the pinto bean. Therefore, the two can be substituted for each other. Both are kidney-shaped with a deep pink skin that is flecked with beige and brown. They originated in South America, where it is still a common practice to cook a large pot of them and then reheat them in smaller amounts. It is for this reason, that Latin Americans call them "frijoles refritas", reawakening beans.
Sa-Taw bean (Parkia speciosa) is native to the Malay archipelago and has a fairly restricted area of growth and use. When it is eaten, it is appreciated for its characteristic lemony flavour. The mix of sour and sweet is unlike any other legume. When young, the pod and all are eaten, by adding them to stir fries. Later, as the pods grow larger and begin to twist in shape, they become too tough for eating, and the seeds are removed from the pods. The outer skin must also be removed from the seeds as with broad beans. The sa-taw bean does look like a tropical version of the broad bean, although the seeds themselves are more prominently seen through the pod. These beans are available in cans from oriental markets and labelled "Peteh Asin".
Soldier bean, red-eye bean is an heirloom variety grown in Maine and other parts of the cooler climate of the US. It is distinguished by the splashes of colour in the shape of a soldier's silhouette at the eye or hilum. It is chalk white and kidney-shaped and an interesting member of the white bean family.
Spanish Tolosana bean is also known as the prince bean in Spain, where it is very popular. With distinctive cinnamon and burgundy markings, this bean has a creamy texture.
Stink-bean (Parkia speciosa) is one of at least five species of this genus cultivated in Asia and Africa. The tree grows to over sixty feet in height providing useful shade. The pods, which can grow up to seventeen inches long, are animal fodder, while the seeds are used as a vegetable and condiment. The best known species is Parkia filicoidea, the African locust bean, cultivated mainly in Nigeria for its edible fruits and seeds.
Swedish brown bean is not really a white bean, but its cooking properties are similar. It is a hardy bush bean, light, toasty brown in colour and has adapted well to Northern climates. It was introduced into Montana by Swedish immigrants in the late 1800s, and thus might fall into the category of imported beans rather than New World. It has been a staple in Swedish cooking and continues to be popular in Sweden because of its early maturity before the frost. When cooked, it turns a honey brown producing a rich, slightly sweet flavour.
Tarbais bean is a large white bean cultivated in southwestern France and named for the city of Tarbes. It is rather expensive, but available, in the US. Traditionally used to make the regional masterpiece, cassoulet, this bean holds its shape very well. It also has a mild flavour and a creamy, smooth texture; but because ofits large size, it requires long periods of soaking and cooking.
Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius) resembles the great northern bean, but the colour varies from white to brown. However, it can be used in place of any white bean. It is a New World variety, especially adapted to desert conditions and not commonly found. It is quick-growing, with long roots that can reach any moisture in the ground. It is grown as a minor food crop in arid areas of Arizona and Guatemala. Because of its ability to produce a quick high-protein crop, more interest is being shown in it. This bean is difficult to harvest because the pods tend to split open, scattering the small seeds. The tepary bean was probably cultivated by Mexican Indians near Tehuacán roughly 5,000 years ago. It reached Europe as an archaeological speciman in 1888, part of an exhibit of materials excavated from the Los Muertos prehistoric site in Arizona.
Tongues of fire bean is a close relative of the cranberry bean and originally grown from a seed variety collected from Tierra del Fuego, on the tip of South America. It found its way to Italy, where it and other borlotto-type beans became extremely popular. The pods are ivory-white, turning to red flames as they mature. It is a good baking bean and goes well with spicy dishes.
Trout bean isalso known as Jacob's cattle bean, coach bean, and Dalmatian bean. It is white and maroon-spotted heirloom tepary bean that does resemble the Dalmatian dogs or cattle. Originally brought to the US from Germany, where it was called Torellen, the trout bean has been grown in New England since colonial times. This bean is also suited to desert climates; and, like other tepary beans, it has a relatively short growing season. When cooked, it develops a velvety texture.
Zebra bean is an heirloom variety, also known as the amethyst bean. White with dark streaks that resemble the markings of a zebra, this bean is highly prized, especially in Spain, for its superior creamy texture and full-bodied flavour.
