bean

The word "bean" and its Germanic cognates (e.g. German Bohne) have existed in common use in West Germanic languages since before the 12th century,{{Citation |author=Merriam-Webster |author-link=Merriam-Webster |title=Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary |publisher=Merriam-Webster |url=http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/collegiate/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 May 2016 |archive-date=10 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201010163505/https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/subscriber/login?redirect_to=%2Fcollegiate%2F |url-status=dead }}{{Page needed|date=September 2020}}{{cite web |title=bean (n.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/bean |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=27 November 2024}} referring to broad beans, chickpeas, and other pod-borne seeds. This was long before the New World genus Phaseolus was known in Europe. With the Columbian exchange of domestic plants between Europe and the Americas, use of the word was extended to pod-borne seeds of Phaseolus, such as the common bean and the runner bean, and the related genus Vigna. The term has long been applied generally to seeds of similar form,{{cite dictionary |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |url=https://ahdictionary.com/ |access-date=3 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925104737/https://ahdictionary.com/ |archive-date=25 September 2015 |url-status=dead}} such as Old World soybeans and lupins, and to the fruits or seeds of unrelated plants such as coffee beans, vanilla beans, castor beans, and cocoa beans.{{cite web |title=Definition And Classification Of Commodities (See Chapter 4) |publisher=FAO |year=1994 |url=http://www.fao.org/es/faodef/faodefe.htm |access-date=5 July 2012 |archive-date=12 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012031118/http://www.fao.org/ES/faodef/FAODEFE.HTM |url-status=dead}}

{{see also|Columbian exchange}}

Beans in an early cultivated form were grown in Thailand from the early seventh millennium BCE, predating ceramics.{{cite journal |last=Gorman |first=C.F. |title=Hoabinhian: A pebble-tool complex with early plant associations in southeast Asia |journal=Science |year=1969 |volume=163 |issue=3868 |pages=671–673 |doi=10.1126/science.163.3868.671 |bibcode=1969Sci...163..671G |s2cid=34052655 |pmid=17742735}} Beans were deposited with the dead in ancient Egypt. Not until the second millennium BCE did cultivated, large-seeded broad beans appear in the Aegean region, Iberia, and transalpine Europe.Daniel Zohary and Maria Hopf Domestication of Plants in the Old World Oxford University Press, 2012, {{ISBN|0199549060}}, p. 114. In the Iliad (8th century BCE), there is a passing mention of beans and chickpeas cast on the threshing floor."And as in some great threshing-floor go leaping From a broad pan the black-skinned beans or peas." (Iliad xiii, 589).

The oldest-known domesticated beans in the Americas were found in Guitarrero Cave, Peru, dated to around the second millennium BCE. 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.{{cite journal |first1=Elena |last1=Bitocchi |first2=Laura |last2=Nanni |first3=Elisa |last3=Bellucci |first4=Monica |last4=Rossi |first5=Alessandro |last5=Giardini |first6=Pierluigi Spagnoletti |last6=Zeuli |first7=Giuseppina |last7=Logozzo |first8=Jens |last8=Stougaard |first9=Phillip |last9=McClean |first10=Giovanna |last10=Attene |first11=Roberto |last11=Papa |display-authors=5 |title=Mesoamerican origin of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is revealed by sequence data |date=3 April 2012 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=109 |issue=14 |pages=E788–E796 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1108973109 |pmid=22393017 |pmc=3325731 |doi-access=free}}

Most of the kinds of beans commonly eaten today are part of the genus Phaseolus, which originated in the Americas. The first European to encounter them was Christopher Columbus, while exploring what may have been the Bahamas, and saw them growing in fields. Five kinds of Phaseolus beans were domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples, selecting pods that did not open and scatter their seeds when ripe: common beans (P. vulgaris) grown from Chile to the northern part of the United States; lima and sieva beans (P. lunatus); and the less widely distributed teparies (P. acutifolius), scarlet runner beans (P. coccineus), and polyanthus beans.{{sfn|Kaplan|2008|page=30}}

Pre-Columbian peoples as far north as the Atlantic seaboard grew beans in the "Three Sisters" method of companion planting. The beans were interplanted with maize and squash.{{cite book |last=Mt. Pleasant |first=Jane |editor1=Staller, John E. |editor2=Tykot, Robert H. |editor3=Benz, Bruce F. |title=Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Prehistory, Linguistics, Biogeography, Domestication, and Evolution of Maize |publisher=Academic Press |location=Amsterdam |year=2006 |pages=529–537 |isbn=978-0-1236-9364-8 |chapter=The science behind the Three Sisters mound system: An agronomic assessment of an indigenous agricultural system in the northeast}} Beans were cultivated across Chile in Pre-Hispanic times, likely as far south as the Chiloé Archipelago.{{Cite book |title=Chile: Plantas alimentarias Prehispánicas |last1=Pardo B. |first1=Oriana |publisher=Ediciones Parina |year=2014 |isbn=9789569120022 |edition=2015 |location=Arica, Chile |pages=162 |language=Spanish |last2=Pizarro |first2=José Luis}}

Beans are legumes, but from many different genera, native to different regions.{{Cite web |date=28 October 2019 |title=Legumes and Pulses |url=https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/legumes-pulses/ |access-date=2022-04-07 |website=The Nutrition Source}}

The biodiversity of bean cultivars is threatened by modern plant breeding, which selects a small number of the most productive varieties. Efforts are being made to conserve the germplasm of older varieties in different countries.{{cite journal |last=Fiore |first=Maria Carola |display-authors=etal |title=Preserving biodiversity in marginal rural areas: Assessment of morphological and genetic variability of a Sicilian common bean germplasm collection |journal=Plants |volume=9 |issue=8 |year=2020 |page=989 |doi=10.3390/plants9080989 |doi-access=free |pmid=32759817 |pmc=7463873 |bibcode=2020Plnts...9..989F |url=https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/9/8/989/pdf}}{{cite web |last=Debouck |first=D. G. |title=Conservation of Phaseolus beans genetic resources: A strategy |location=Rome, Italy |publisher=Global Crop Diversity Trust |year=2014 |url=https://www.croptrust.org/fileadmin/uploads/croptrust/Documents/Ex_Situ_Crop_Conservation_Strategies/Crop_Conservation_Strategy_Bean.pdf}} As of 2023, the Norwegian Svalbard Global Seed Vault holds more than 40,000 accessions of Phaseolus bean species.{{cite web|url= https://www.seedvault.no/about/the-seeds/ |title=The seeds |publisher=Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food |date=2023 |accessdate=5 November 2023}}

Many beans are summer crops that needs warm temperatures to grow; peas are an exception. Legumes are capable of nitrogen fixation and hence need less fertiliser than most plants. Maturity is typically 55–60 days from planting to harvest.{{cite book |last1=Shurtleff |first1=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zWW4AQAAQBAJ&q=bean+maturity+55%E2%80%9360+days&pg=PA452 |title=Early Named Soybean Varieties in the United States and Canada: Extensively Annotated Bibliography and Sourcebook |last2=Aoyagi |first2=Akiko |date=1 October 2013 |publisher=Soyinfo Center |isbn=9781928914600 |access-date=18 November 2017 |via=Google Books}} As the pods mature, they turn yellow and dry up, and the beans inside change from green to their mature colour. Many beans are vines needing external support, such as "bean cages" or poles. Native Americans customarily grew them along with corn and squash, the tall stalks acting as support for the beans.{{cite book |last=Schneider |first=Meg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6O4sOoTqV60C&q=native+americans+corn+beans+squash&pg=PA114 |title=New York Yesterday & Today |publisher=Voyageur Press |isbn=9781616731267 |page=114 |access-date=18 November 2017 |via=Google Books}}

More recently, the commercial "bush bean" which does not require support and produces all its pods simultaneously has been developed.{{cite web |title=The Germination Of a Bean |url=https://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artdec13macro/Gerhardt_Final.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artdec13macro/Gerhardt_Final.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |access-date=18 November 2017 |website=Microscopy-uk.org.uk}}

File:Bean Flower in Bangladesh.jpg|Flower with pollinator

File:Lablab bean and bean flowers.JPG|Lablab flowers and fruits

File:Field beans near Pendomer - geograph.org.uk - 1463701.jpg|Broad beans ready for harvest

{{main|Legume#Production}}

File:Beans in a supermarket.jpg

The production data for legumes are published by FAO in three categories:

1. Pulses dry: all mature and dry seeds of leguminous plants except soybeans and groundnuts.
2. Oil crops: soybeans and groundnuts.
3. Fresh vegetable: immature green fresh fruits of leguminous plants.

The following is a summary of FAO data.FAO STAT [http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC Production/Crops].

The world leader in production of dry beans (Phaseolus spp),Dry beans does not include broad beans, dry peas, chickpea, lentil. is India, followed by Myanmar (Burma) and Brazil. In Africa, the most important producer is Tanzania.FAO [http://www.fao.org/es/faodef/fdef04e.htm Pulses and Derived Products] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207071652/http://www.fao.org/es/faodef/fdef04e.htm |date=7 December 2015 }}.

Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO){{cite web |url=http://faostat.fao.org/site/567/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=567#ancor |title=Major Food And Agricultural Commodities And Producers – Countries By Commodity |publisher=Fao.org |access-date=2 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906230329/http://faostat.fao.org/site/567/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=567#ancor |archive-date=6 September 2015 |df=dmy}}

Beans can be cooked in a wide variety of casseroles, curries, salads, soups, and stews. They can be served whole or mashed alongside meat or toast, or included in an omelette or a flatbread wrap.{{cite web |title=Healthy bean recipes |url=https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/healthy-bean-recipes |publisher=BBC Good Food |access-date=2 January 2025}} 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.{{cite web |title=Our best bean recipes |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/full_of_beans |publisher=BBC Food |access-date=2 January 2025}} The French cassoulet is a slow-cooked stew with haricot beans, sausage, pork, mutton, and preserved goose.{{cite book |last=David |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth David |title=French Provincial Cooking |date=2008 |orig-date=1960 |location=London |publisher=Folio Society |oclc=809349711 |page=39}} Soybeans can be processed into bean curd (tofu){{cite web |title=What is tofu? |url=https://www.soya.be/what-is-tofu.php |website=Soya.be |access-date=2 January 2025}} or fermented into a cake (tempeh);{{cite web |title=What is tempeh? |url=https://www.soya.be/what-is-tempeh.php |website=Soya.be |access-date=2 January 2025}} these can be eaten fried or roasted like meat, or included in stir-fries, curries, and soups.{{cite web |last1=Powell |first1=Lori |last2=Jibrin |first2=Janis |title=Simple Roasted Tofu and Tempeh Recipe |url=https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/healthy/a47209/simple-roasted-tofu-and-tempeh-recipe/ |publisher=Good Housekeeping |access-date=2 January 2025 |date=7 December 2017}}{{cite web |title=54 tofu recipes |url=https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/tofu-recipes |publisher=BBC Good Food |access-date=2 January 2025}}{{cite web |title=Tempeh |url=https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/search?q=tempeh |publisher=BBC Good Food |access-date=2 January 2025}} Most dry beans contain 21-25% protein by weight;{{cite web |title=Foundation Foods: Legumes and Legume Products |url=https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-search?type=Foundation&SFFoodCategory=Legumes%20and%20Legume%20Products |website=FoodData Central |access-date=24 February 2025}} dry soybeans are 36.5% protein by weight.{{cite web |title=Foundation Foods: Legumes and Legume Products |url=https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/174270/nutrients |website=FoodData Central |access-date=24 February 2025}}

File:Bean salad.jpg|Bean salad

File:Beans on toast - Vios 2024-01-09.jpg|Beans on toast, Greece

File:Senate bean soup, United States Capitol Visitor Center, April 2019.jpg|Bean soup

File:Bowl of cassoulet.JPG|Cassoulet, France

File:Chili con carne 6.jpg|Chili con carne with meat, beans, and red peppers

File:Vegetarian black bean burger with homefries.jpg|Bean burger

File:Deep fried bean-curd curry (2894128615).jpg|Bean curd curry

File:Tempeh tempe.jpg|Tempeh cakes ready to cook, Indonesia

File:Cluster bean-guar-Cyamopsis psoralioides-Cyamopsis tetragonolobus-TAMIL NADU73.jpg beans are used for their gum. ]]

Guar beans are used for their gum, a galactomannan polysaccharide. It is used to thicken and stabilise foods and other products.{{cite journal |last1=Thombare |first1=Nandkishore |last2=Jha |first2=Usha |last3=Mishra |first3=Sumit |last4=Siddiqui |first4=M.Z. |date=July 2016 |title=Guar gum as a promising starting material for diverse applications: A review |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141813016303099 |journal=International Journal of Biological Macromolecules |volume=88 |pages=361–372 |doi=10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2016.04.001 |pmid=27044346}}

{{Main|Phytohaemagglutinin|Soybean agglutinin}}

Some kinds of raw beans contain a harmful, flavourless toxin: the lectin phytohaemagglutinin, which must be destroyed by cooking. Red kidney beans are particularly toxic, but other types also pose risks of food poisoning. Even small quantities (4 or 5 raw beans) may cause severe stomachache, vomiting, and diarrhea. This risk does not apply to canned beans because they have already been cooked.{{Cite web |title=Natural toxins in food |url=https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/natural-toxins-in-food |access-date=2022-04-07 |website=www.who.int |language=en}} A recommended method is to boil the beans for at least ten minutes; under-cooked beans may be more toxic than raw beans.{{cite web |title=Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins Handbook: Phytohaemagglutinin |url=https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FoodborneIllness/FoodborneIllnessFoodbornePathogensNaturalToxins/BadBugBook/ucm071092.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709183309/https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FoodborneIllness/FoodborneIllnessFoodbornePathogensNaturalToxins/BadBugBook/ucm071092.htm |archive-date=9 July 2009 |access-date=11 July 2009 |work=Bad Bug Book |publisher=United States Food and Drug Administration}}

Cooking beans, without bringing them to a boil, in a slow cooker at a temperature well below boiling may not destroy toxins. A case of poisoning by butter beans used to make falafel was reported; the beans were used instead of traditional broad beans or chickpeas, soaked and ground without boiling, made into patties, and shallow fried.{{cite web |author=Vicky Jones |date=15 September 2008 |title=Beware of the beans: How beans can be a surprising source of food poisoning |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/beware-of-the-beans-how-beans-can-be-a-surprising-source-of-food-poisoning-931862.html |access-date=23 January 2016 |newspaper=The Independent}}

Bean poisoning is not well known in the medical community, and many cases may be misdiagnosed or never reported; figures appear not to be available. In the case of the UK National Poisons Information Service, available only to health professionals, the dangers of beans other than red beans were not flagged {{As of|2008|lc=y}}.

Fermentation is used in some parts of Africa to improve the nutritional value of beans by removing toxins. Inexpensive fermentation improves the nutritional impact of flour from dry beans and improves digestibility, according to research co-authored by Emire Shimelis, from the Food Engineering Program at Addis Ababa University.{{Cite journal |last1=Shimelis |first1=Emire Admassu |last2=Rakshit |first2=Sudip Kumar |date=2008 |title=Influence of natural and controlled fermentations on α-galactosides, antinutrients and protein digestibility of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) |journal=International Journal of Food Science & Technology |language=en |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=658–665 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2621.2006.01506.x |issn=1365-2621}} Beans are a major source of dietary protein in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.Summary: [http://www.scidev.net/fr/climate-change-and-energy/tsunami/news/actualit-s-d-afrique-sub-saharienne-en-bref-du-25-.html Fermentation 'improves nutritional value of beans'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522113641/http://www.scidev.net/fr/climate-change-and-energy/tsunami/news/actualit-s-d-afrique-sub-saharienne-en-bref-du-25-.html|date=22 May 2013}} (Sub Saharan Africa page, Science and Development Network website). Paper: [https://archive.today/20130105080106/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119409208/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Influence of natural and controlled fermentations on α-galactosides, antinutrients and protein digestibility of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)]

It is common to make beansprouts by letting some types of bean, often mung beans, germinate in moist and warm conditions; beansprouts may be used as ingredients in cooked dishes, or eaten raw or lightly cooked. There have been many outbreaks of disease from bacterial contamination, often by salmonella, listeria, and Escherichia coli, of beansprouts not thoroughly cooked,{{cite web |title=Sprouts: What You Should Know |url=http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/types/fruits/sprouts.html |access-date=23 January 2016 |newspaper=Foodsafety.gov}} some causing significant mortality.{{cite web |date=2011-07-27 |title=Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC): Update on outbreak in the EU (27 July 2011, 11:00) |url=http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/activities/sciadvice/_layouts/forms/Review_DispForm.aspx?ID=602&List=a3216f4c%2Df040%2D4f51%2D9f77%2Da96046dbfd72 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315061038/http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/activities/sciadvice/_layouts/forms/Review_DispForm.aspx?ID=602&List=a3216f4c%2Df040%2D4f51%2D9f77%2Da96046dbfd72 |archive-date=2017-03-15 |website=European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control}}

Many types of bean like kidney bean contain significant amounts of antinutrients that inhibit some enzyme processes in the body. Phytic acid, present in beans, interferes with bone growth and interrupts vitamin D metabolism.{{cite journal |last1=Harrison |first1=D.C. |last2=Mellanby |first2=E |date=October 1939 |title=Phytic acid and the rickets-producing action of cereals |journal=Biochemical Journal |volume=33 |issue=10 |pages=1660–1680.1 |doi=10.1042/bj0331660 |pmc=1264631 |pmid=16747083}}{{cite web |first=Ramiel |last=Nagel |date=26 March 2010 |title=Living With Phytic Acid |url=http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/living-with-phytic-acid/ |access-date=23 January 2016 |newspaper=The Weston A Price Foundation}}

Many beans, including broad beans, navy beans, kidney beans and soybeans, contain large sugar molecules, oligosaccharides (particularly raffinose and stachyose). A suitable oligosaccharide-cleaving enzyme is necessary to digest these. As the human digestive tract does not contain such enzymes, consumed oligosaccharides are digested by bacteria in the large intestine, producing gases such as methane, released as flatulence.{{cite news |date=25 April 2006 |title=Health: Experts make flatulence-free bean |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4943486.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331165557/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4943486.stm |archive-date=31 March 2009 |access-date=25 February 2009 |work=BBC News}}{{cite web |title=Flatulence – Overview – Introduction |url=http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Flatulence/Pages/Introduction.aspx?url=Pages/What-is-it.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221200429/http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/flatulence/Pages/Introduction.aspx?url=Pages%2FWhat-is-it.aspx |archive-date=21 February 2009 |access-date=25 February 2009 |publisher=Nhs.uk}}{{cite book |first=Harold |last=McGee |title=Food and Cooking |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2003 |isbn=978-0684843285 |page=486 |quote=Many legumes, especially soy, navy and lima beans, cause a sudden increase in bacterial activity and gas production a few hours after they're consumed. This is because they contain large amounts of carbohydrates that human digestive enzymes can't convert into absorbable sugars. These carbohydrates therefore leave the upper intestine unchanged and enter the lower reaches, where our resident bacterial population does the job we are unable to do.}}{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Barham |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9783540674665/page/14 |title=The Science of Cooking |publisher=Springer |year=2001 |isbn=978-3-540-67466-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9783540674665/page/14 14] |quote=we do not possess any enzymes that are capable of breaking down larger sugars, such as raffinose etc. These 3, 4 and 5 ring sugars are made by plants especially as part of the energy storage system in seeds and beans. If these sugars are ingested, they can't be broken down in the intestines; rather, they travel into the colon, where various bacteria digest them |url-access=registration}}

File:Carracci - Der Bohnenesser.jpeg (c.1584) by Annibale Carracci ]]

Beans have often been thought of as a food of the poor, as small farmers ate grains, vegetables, and got their protein from beans, while the wealthier classes were able to afford meat. European society has what Ken Albala calls "a class-based antagonism" to beans.

Different cultures agree in disliking the flatulence that beans cause, and possess their own seasonings to attempt to remedy it: Mexico uses the herb epazote; India the aromatic resin asafoetida; Germany applies the herb savory; in the Middle East, cumin; and Japan the seaweed kombu. A substance for which there is evidence of effectiveness in reducing flatulence is the enzyme alpha-galactosidase;{{cite book |last=Albala |first=Ken |title=Beans |publisher=Berg |publication-place=Oxford |date=15 August 2007 |isbn=978-1-84520-430-3 |pages=x, xiv, 1, 12}} extracted from the mould fungus Aspergillus niger, it breaks down glycolipids and glycoproteins.{{cite journal |last1=Di Stefano |first1=Michele |last2=Miceli |first2=Emanuela |last3=Gotti |first3=Samantha |last4=Missanelli |first4=Antonio |last5=Mazzocchi |first5=Samanta |last6=Corazza |first6=Gino Roberto |title=The Effect of Oral α-Galactosidase on Intestinal Gas Production and Gas-Related Symptoms |journal=Digestive Diseases and Sciences |volume=52 |issue=1 |date=2007 |doi=10.1007/s10620-006-9296-9 |pages=78–83|pmid=17151807 }}{{cite journal |last1=Ganiats |first1=T. G. |last2=Norcross |first2=W. A. |last3=Halverson |first3=A. L. |last4=Burford |first4=P. A. |last5=Palinkas |first5=L. A. |title=Does Beano prevent gas? A double-blind crossover study of oral alpha-galactosidase to treat dietary oligosaccharide intolerance |journal=The Journal of Family Practice |volume=39 |issue=5 |date=1994 |pmid=7964541 |pages=441–445}} The reputation of beans for flatulence is the theme of a children's song "Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit".{{cite news |last=Carey |first=Bjorn |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/12483399/ |title=Scientists take the 'toot' out of beans |work=NBC News |date=25 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205042357/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/12483399/ |archive-date=5 December 2013 }}

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. The pods start to jump when warmed in the palm of the hand. Scientists have suggested that the random walk that results may help the larva to find shade and so to survive on hot days.{{Cite web |last=Ouellette |first=Jennifer |date=2023-02-09 |title=Study: Mexican jumping beans use random walk strategy to find shade |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/taking-a-walk-on-the-random-side-helps-mexican-jumping-beans-find-shade/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210004230/https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/taking-a-walk-on-the-random-side-helps-mexican-jumping-beans-find-shade/ |archive-date=2023-02-10 |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=Ars Technica}}

• Baked beans
• List of bean soups
• Fassoulada – a bean soup
• List of legume dishes

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite book |last=Chazan |first=Michael |title=World Prehistory and Archaeology: Pathways through Time |year=2008 |publisher=Pearson Education, Inc. |isbn=978-0-205-40621-0}}}}

• {{cite book |last=Kaplan |first=Lawrence |chapter=Legumes in the History of Human Nutrition |editor1=DuBois, Christine |editor2=Tan, Chee-Beng |editor3=Mintz, Sidney |title=The World of Soy |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tW6fjds6YwkC&pg=PA27 |access-date=18 December 2012 |year=2008 |publisher=NUS Press |isbn=978-9971-69-413-5 |pages=27–}}

{{Wiktionary}}

{{Commons category|Beans}}

• [http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=119C6813C8S25.9800&profile=all&source=~!siarchives&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!179119~!1&ri=21&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=bickley&index=.TW&uindex=&aspect=Keyword&menu=search&ri=21 Everett H. Bickley Collection, 1919–1980] Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051225193340/http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970815/skinnyon.html Discovery Online: The Skinny On Why Beans Give You Gas]
• [https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2621.2006.01506.x Fermentation improves nutritional value of beans]
• [http://www.foodsubs.com/Beans.html Cook's Thesaurus on Beans]

{{Authority control}}

Category:Edible legumes

Category:Pod vegetables

Category:Staple foods

Category:Vegan cuisine

Category:Vegetarian cuisine

Category:Crops

Category:Plant common names