Edible Legumes

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Edible Legumes

• Introduction
• Legume
• Refers to plants that produce edible seeds in
  pods
• Members of Family Fabaceae
• Are in more than 600 genus and 13,000 species
• Many also have a symbiotic relationship with
  rhizobium bacteria
• Form nodules on their roots that can convert
  atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can
  use

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Root nodules
Pea root nodules
Soybean nodules
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Legumes

• Only 22 species are widely grown for human
  consumption
• Includes
• Lentils (Lens)
• Beans (Phaseolus)
• Broad beans (Vicia)
• Soybeans (Glycine)
• Peanuts (Arachis)

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Legumes

• Important part of human diet
• Excellent source of protein when meat is not
  available, preferred, or allowed
• Characteristics
• Annual plants
• Seeds are contained in pods
• Fix nitrogen
• Some species are cool season, others are warm
  season plants

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Peas (Pisum sativum var. sativum)

• Native to eastern Mediterranean from Turkey
  eastwards to Syria, Iraq, Iran
• Probably first cultivated in Turkey
• Were grown as early as 5700 BC
• One of the most ancient crops
• Fresh peas first consumed in China

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Pea Plant characteristics

• Cool season
• Cold hardy
• Plant when temperatures are above 45 F
• Annual
• Soil
• Well-drained
• Moderately fertile because excess nitrogen causes
  large vines and few pods
• Also poor nodulation

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Peas

• Have hypogeal emergence
• when the shoot breaks through the soil and the
  cotyledons stay below ground

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Types of peas

• Dried peas
• Not commonly grown in gardens
• English pea (garden pea or sweet pea)
• Grown for fresh (non-dry) seed
• Pods harvested when seeds fully form but before
  they harden and fade in color

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Types of peas

• Edible-pod pea (snow peas, sugar peas, Chinese
  peas)
• Grown for pod instead of seed. Pods are
• Brittle, succulent, tender, fiber-free
• Picked when pods are long and peas just
  developing

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Types of Peas

• Snap pea
• Both the seed and pod are eaten
• Pick when seed and pods fully developed but seed
  not hard or pod not faded

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Haricot Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris)

• History
• Plant native to Central and South America
• Were cultivated over 7,000 years ago
• Spread throughout the Americas by time Columbus
  arrived
• Spanish and Portuguese explorers spread
  throughout the world
• Both pod and seed can be consumed

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Haricot Beans

• Have epigeal emergence
• Emerges in the form of a hook with cotyledons
  pulled above the soil surface

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Emergence Strategies
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Haricot Beans

• Characteristics
• Most versatile of all legumes in respect to shape
  of plant, color and shape of pod, and color and
  shape of bean
• Can be classified according to use

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Haricot Beans

• Fresh (snap) beans
• Pods of most varieties can be eaten fresh before
  they reach maturity
• Also called green beans or waxed beans
• When buying fresh pods, look for
• Firm, crisp pods
• Healthy green or yellow color
• Free of blemishes
• Moisture from around the break when pod is
  snapped in two

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Haricot Beans

• Fresh (snap) beans
• Temperature
• Love warmth
• Weeding
• Need to keep weeds down because snap beans have
  shallow root systems
• Two types
• Bush
• Pole or climbing
• Must be trellised

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Haricot Beans

• Fresh (Snap) beans
• Soil and fertility
• Respond to well-drained, friable loam soils
• Loam is a very balanced soil texture class
• Respond to fertile soils
• Are not efficient at N fixation
• Harvesting
• Pick when pods and their seeds are immature

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Haricot Beans

• Mature (Dry bean)
• Are harvested after the pods are mature and dried
  
• They are shelled and the dry seed are cooked and
  consumed

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Haricot Beans

• Mature (dry beans)
• Are a wide range of different types
• Examples white beans, pinto beans, kidney beans,
  black beans, Navy beans
• Harvesting
• Harvest seed when fully mature and hard
• Bite test to determine proper hardness
• Should barely be able to dent the seed

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Fava Beans

• Broad bean or fava bean (Vicia faba)
• Only bean in diet of old world until 16th century
• Characteristics
• Named because of its broad, plump shape
• Pods 7 inches long
• Contain 5 or 6 large beans

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Fava Beans

• Culture
• Conditions favoring growth
• Cool weather
• Pinch back growing tips when first pods form for
  higher yield
• Harvesting
• Harvested as green shell or dry beans

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Lima Beans (Phaseolus limensis)

• Native to Americas
• Name came from the seed of the large type found
  by a sea captain in Lima Peru
• Hard to digest
• Types
• Large seeded
• called Fordhook types
• Originated in Peru
• Small seeded
• called baby limas
• Cultivated by Native Americans in North America

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Lima Beans

• Environmental conditions
• Warm-season crop
• Requires 3 to 4 months of warm days and nights
• Baby limas mature more rapidly and are better
  grown in Illinois
• Soils
• Avoid soils too rich in nitrogen
• Can cause lima beans to shed their blooms without
  setting pods
• Include both bush and pole types