Bean

A bean is the seed of any plant in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed.

Not until the second millennium BCE did cultivated, large-seeded broad beans appear in the Aegean region, Iberia, and transalpine Europe.

[8] The oldest-known domesticated beans in the Americas were found in Guitarrero Cave, Peru, dated to around the second millennium BCE.

[9] Genetic analyses of the common bean Phaseolus show that it originated in Mesoamerica, and subsequently spread southward, along with maize and squash, traditional companion crops.

[11] Pre-Columbian peoples as far north as the Atlantic seaboard grew beans in the "Three Sisters" method of companion planting.

[14] The biodiversity of bean cultivars is threatened by modern plant breeding, which selects a small number of the most productive varieties.

Native Americans customarily grew them along with corn and squash, the tall stalks acting as support for the beans.

[30] The world leader in production of dry beans (Phaseolus spp),[33] is India, followed by Myanmar (Burma) and Brazil.

[34] Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)[35] Raw green beans are 90% water, 7% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and contain negligible fat.

[38] Other options are to include them in a bake with a cheese sauce, a Mexican-style chili con carne, or to use them as a meat substitute in a burger or in falafels.

[39] The French cassoulet is a slow-cooked stew with haricot beans, sausage, pork, mutton, and preserved goose.

There have been many outbreaks of disease from bacterial contamination, often by salmonella, listeria, and Escherichia coli, of beansprouts not thoroughly cooked,[52] some causing significant mortality.

[60] A substance for which there is evidence of effectiveness in reducing flatulence is the enzyme alpha-galactosidase;[60] extracted from the mould fungus Aspergillus niger, it breaks down glycolipids and glycoproteins.

[63] The Mexican jumping bean is a segment of a seed pod occupied by the larva of the moth Cydia saltitans, and sold as a novelty.