Green bean

Uses

As common food in many countries, green beans are sold fresh, canned, and frozen. They can be eaten raw or steamed, boiled, stir-fried, or baked. They are commonly cooked in other dishes, such as soups, stews, and casseroles. Green beans can be pickled, similarly to cucumbers.

A dish with green beans common throughout the northern US, particularly at Thanksgiving, is green bean casserole, a dish of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and French-fried onions.

Nutrition

Raw green beans are 90% water, 7% carbohydrates, 2% protein, and contain negligible fat. In a 100 g reference amount, raw green beans supply 131 kJ of food energy and are a moderate source (range 10–19% of the Daily Value) of vitamin C and vitamin K, with no other micronutrients in significant content.

Domestication

The green bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) originated in Central and South America, where there is evidence that it has been cultivated in Mexico and Peru for thousands of years.

Characteristics

The first "stringless" bean was bred in 1894 by Calvin Keeney, called the "father of the stringless bean," while working in Le Roy, New York. Most modern green bean varieties do not have strings.

Plant

Green beans are classified by growth habit into two major groups, "bush" (or "dwarf") beans and "pole" (or "climbing") beans.

Bush beans are short plants, growing to not more than 2 ft in height, often without requiring supports. They generally reach maturity and produce all of their fruit in a relatively short period, then cease to produce. Owing to this concentrated production and ease of mechanized harvesting, bush-type beans are those most often grown on commercial farms. Bush green beans are usually cultivars of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).

Pole beans have a climbing habit and produce a twisting vine, which must be supported by "poles," trellises, or other means. Pole beans may be common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), runner beans (Phaseolus coccineus) or yardlong beans (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis).

Half-runner beans have both bush and pole characteristics, and are sometimes classified separately from bush and pole varieties. Their runners can be about 3 to(-) long.

Varieties

Over 130 varieties (cultivars) of edible pod beans are known. Varieties specialized for use as green beans, selected for the succulence and flavor of their green pods, are the ones usually grown in the home vegetable garden, and many varieties exist. Beans with various pod colors (green, purple, red, or streaked.) are collectively known as snap beans, while green beans are exclusively green. Pod shapes range from thin and circular ("fillet" types) to wide and flat ("romano" types) and more common types in between.

The three most commonly known types of green beans belonging to the species Phaseolus vulgaris are string or snap beans, which may be round or have a flat pod; stringless or French beans, which lack a tough, fibrous string running along the length of the pod; and runner beans, which belong to a separate species, Phaseolus coccineus. Green beans may have a purple rather than green pod, which changes to green when cooked. Yellow-podded green beans are also known as wax beans. Wax bean cultivars are commonly of the bush or dwarf form.

All of the following varieties have green pods and are Phaseolus vulgaris unless otherwise specified:

Bush (dwarf) types

• Blue Lake 274
• Contender
• Derby (1990 AAS winner)
• Golden Wax Improved (yellow/wax), 60 days
• Greencrop, 53 days
• Heavyweight II, 53 days
• Improved Tendergreen
• Provider
• Rocquencourt (yellow/wax), 50 days, heirloom
• Royal Burgundy (purple pod), 55 days
• Stringless Green Pod, heirloom{{cite web | url = http://www.saveseeds.org/biography/keeney/index.html | title = Seedsmen Hall of Fame | access-date = December 23, 2018}}
• Triomphe de Farcy, 48 days, heirloom

Pole (climbing) types

• Algarve
• Blue Lake
• Golden Gate (yellow/wax)
• Gold Marie, 75 days, Common Mosaic virus (BCMV) resistant
• Kentucky Blue (AAS Winner)
• Kentucky Wonder, 65 days, heirloom
• Rattlesnake bean, 65 days, heirloom
• Scarlet Runner (Phaseolus coccineus)
• Trionfo Violetto (purple pod), 60 days

Production

In 2020, world production of green beans was 23 million tonnes, with China accounting for 77% of the total.

Gallery

File:A green bean.jpg|Green common beans on the plant File:CDC greenbean.jpg|Whole raw green beans packed in a punnet for sale File:Green beans with green bean slicer.jpg|Green beans with bean slicer File:Cut Green Beans.jpg|Cut and cooked green beans File:Four Different Varieties of Green Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris).jpg|Four varieties of the common green bean File:GreenbeanFrance.jpg|Green beans on a bush plant File:Signal-2023-08-05-204959 003.jpg|Mature green beans, freshly picked in France File:Green beans, strung up to dry on the porch, known as leather britches or shucky beans.jpg|Dried green beans (known as leather britches or shucky beans) File:Šparga čušpajz poslužena u tanjuru (Croatia).JPG|Green beans cream stew File:Pickled Beans (3920862383).jpg|Pickled beans

References

References

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