Author: skumagai

YEAR

Beans

Beans are legumes, or plants that have pods with seeds inside, and there are countless varieties. Can you name different kinds of beans? - black beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans, soy beans, Cannellini beans, etc.
Beans have been an important part of the human diet for thousands of years and are one of the earliest food crops cultivated. Originally domesticated in Central and South America, dry beans moved northward through Mexico and spread across most of the United States. These beans were commonly grown with corn and sometimes squash (see “Exploration” below).

Each year, U.S. farmers plant from 1.8 to 2 million acres of dry beans. That is an area more than 1,500 football fields can fit easily.
Washington State ranks in the 3rd in the nation in production of lentils and dry peas, such as split peas, and 6th in production of dry beans.
Did you know…?
The most popular dry beans are pinto, Navy, Great Northern, red kidney, and black beans (by U.S. per capita use).
People living in the U.S. eat approximately 7.5 pounds of beans every year.

Nutrition Information

Good source of
Protein & Folate:
Protein helps us grow and maintain muscles.
Folate is a nutrient that influences growth, and very important for pregnant women and their unborn babies.
Other notable nutrients:
Dietary fiber
Manganese
Iron

Easy Ways to Add Beans to Your Diet

Top salads with beans.
Add to soups or pasta sauces.
Mix beans with rice.
Make bean dips.
Use chopped or mashed beans in brownies and cookies recipes, replacing part of the fat ingredient with beans.

Farm to School Pick!

Enjoy Washington-grown Beans & Peas!

District Name

Exploration

Beans, typically climbing beans, are one of the three main agricultural crops of Native American groups in the Americas: squash, corn and climbing beans (also called three sisters). They grow well together as each of the sisters contributes something to the planting. As older sisters often do, the corn offers the beans needed support. The beans, the giving sister, pull nitrogen from the air and bring it to the soil for the benefit of all three. The large leaves of the sprawling squash protect the three sisters by creating living mulch that shades the soil, keeping it cool and moist and preventing weeds. The prickly squash leaves also keep away raccoons.
Reference: The Old Farmer’s Almanac—Companion Planing: The Three Sisters

Selecting and Storing Beans

Choose firm, clean, whole beans without cracks and broken seed coats.
Keep uncooked dry beans at room temperature in a tightly sealed container in a dry area. Beans and peas can be stored for up to one year for maximum flavor.
Beans freeze well - you can cook first and freeze, or if you soaked beans but missed the chance to cook it right away, you can freeze the rehydrated beans in air-tight bags to extend the shelflife for a week or so.

This material was made possible with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention