Nature Bulletin No. 261-A   March 18, 1967
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Richard B. Ogilvie, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:EDIBLE BEANS AND PEAS

Beans -- like corn, potatoes, peanuts and squash -- were unknown in the 
Old World until after Columbus discovered America. Like corn, they 
had been cultivated so long and changed so much that their wild 
ancestors are unknown. Today, beans rank next to the cereal grains as 
human food throughout the world but, with the exception of the soy 
bean which has been grown and eaten in China and Japan since ancient 
times, all of them have come from seed obtained from the bean patches 
of the Indians in South, Central and North America.

No other plant food is so rich in protein or so cheaply grown. Beans are 
so easily carried and stored, so compact and nutritious, that they quickly 
became the mainstay in the diet of all sorts of hard working people 
away from regular sources of supply -- explorers, soldiers, sailors, 
trappers, hunters, pioneers, miners and lumberjacks. Some kinds have 
become traditional dishes such as, for exarnple, the "haricots" of the 
French, the "frijoles" of the Spaniards and Mexicans, the black-eyed 
"peas" of our southern states, and the baked beans in Boston on 
Saturday night. Beans are easy to raise, mature quickly, and give high 
yields in all except the cold countries.

Beans and peas are closely related members of the great Pea Family. 
Both are legumes, bearing their seed in pods and supporting nitrogen-
fixing bacteria on their roots. The cultivated American beans fall into 
two main types: lima beans and kidney beans, Both types have 3-parted 
leaves and butterfly-like flowers with five petals. Some varieties of each 
type are "bush" beans and others are "pole" beans which climb by 
means of twining stems and not by clinging tendrils, as do the peas. 
Lima beans or butter beans, of which there are many varieties, have 
broad inedible pods and were probably first grown by ancient pre-Incan 
Indians of Peru. However, the Pilgrims found them being grown in New 
England and mixed with fresh corn to make succotash. The slender-
podded kidney bean type is more numerous and, to name only a few, 
includes kidney beans, scarlet-runner beans, red beans, black beans, 
black-eyed "peas", navy beans, string beans, wax beans, pinto beans 
and beans with pods a yard long. About 150 of these slender-podded 
varieties are grown in America but we never see many kinds, such as 
the tiny jet black and rich purple beans still grown by the Indians.

The garden pea is probably a native of western Asia but its wild 
ancestor is also unknown. It has been grown in Europe since the time of 
the prehistoric Swiss lake-dwellers and many varieties developed: tall, 
dwarf, green-seeded, yellow-seeded, peas that must be shelled, and peas 
with edible pods. Peas differ from beans in certain ways, such as the 
method of germination and having several pairs of leaflets along a main 
stem with one or more clinging tendrils at the tip. They were a favorite 
food of the ancient Romans and -- whether fresh from the garden, 
frozen or canned -- are an esteemed delicacy in America today.

A few other legumes with table qualities resembling peas and beans 
have long been cultivated. Lentils have been found in Egyptian tombs 
dating back to 2,200 BC, In Genesis it says that Esau sold his birthright 
to Jacob for "bread and pottage of lentils". Both the French and the 
Egyptian lentils have tiny pods each containing two round flattened 
seeds. The common split peas or pigeon peas, yellow or green, are 
similar to lentils and widely used in India and the East Indies. The 
broad bean or Windsor bean is not a true bean. A native of Algeria, 
formerly grown in Europe and colonial America, it is now almost 
unknown here.

Uncle Ezra says: "Some folks don't know beans!"