Posted on 06/18/2022 4:30:46 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Heirloom Spotlight: The History of Beans
by William Woys Weaver
There is probably no vegetable that evokes more loyalty from its collectors than the humble bean. The array of colors, shapes, and sizes is breathtaking, and to say that the choices for collectors are numerous would be mere understatement. Seed Savers Exchange has over 4,000 varieties in its collection, and that is not all of them. This huge diversity is the result of the very nature of the bean itself, its constant transformation from generation to generation, which results in new combinations of color and a vast array of other genetic features.
The bean in early America was not so numerous, for as we move back in time, we discover that the functional uses of the bean took priority over many characteristics we look for today. With certain pole beans, for example, it was the ease of drying the pods and their storability over the winter that took priority over tenderness when fresh. For Native Americans, who tended to categorize beans quite differently from Europeans, it was usefulness as a source of bean flour or adaptability in dumplings and hearth breads that received emphasis.
Of course, for the Native American, the bean was associated with religious ritual, and its colors held sacred meaning. It is tempting to imagine that the orange-and-maroon lima bean, a bean similar to one buried in the graves of the ancient peoples of Peru, moved up the continent through Mexico and into the land of the Hopi. It is equally tempting to suggest that this distant food of the Incas came to the Hopi with similar religious trappings. But in the case of beans, nature is constantly assembling and reassembling her creation in such a way that similar things often emerge in several places at the same time. Their relationship is not always direct.
The discovery of the New World bean and its many forms revolutionized world agriculture, yet for several centuries the scientific approach to this body of plants has been chaotic at best. At the very outset, Europeans began calling them fasiolius, the name previously used for cowpeas by the Greeks and Romans. This led to heated debates about the origin of the bean and whether or not it was from the Old World or the New. As long as Europeans thought American Indians were the Lost Tribes of Israel — an idea that survived into the nineteenth century — it was logical to conclude that their foodstuffs also originated in the Middle East.
The oldest depiction of the common garden bean in a European work is thought to be a 1543 woodcut of a bush bean in the German herbal of Leonhart Fuchs. Later in the same century, in 1553, another German herbalist by the name of Georg Oelinger made a watercolor of a red pole bean that is probably related to the variety known today as frijoles rojos, or Montezuma Red. While this is a bush variety, it can also appear as a pole bean. One of the important lessons in understanding beans and their evolution is to discard the myth that pole beans and bush beans represent different species. Botanically speaking, the two are only extreme forms of the same thing. For every red pole bean there is — or can be — a corresponding bush form, not to mention a number of intermediate types. All of the common garden beans, regardless of shape, color, or size, belong to the same species and therefore will readily cross with one another when conditions are right. Scientists have designated the genus into which our garden beans are now grouped as Phaseolus,the species being vulgaris.Lima and runner beans represent a separate species.
There have been various attempts since the eighteenth century to organize beans scientifically and provide them with logical nomenclature. It has not worked. Horticulturists still rely on rather unscientific ways to define beans. A pole bean is obviously one that climbs, but it can also be a “snap” bean (eaten as a green pod), a “shelly” bean (the green seeds are cooked like fresh peas), or a “dry” bean, its dry seeds soaked and prepared in recipes like Boston baked beans — a recipe, incidentally, originally prepared by the English with field peas or with horse beans. Beans are also further categorized by pod type. Wax beans are any sort with pods that ripen yellow. This yellowness has been tinkered with by breeders to create a whole group of beans that are so tender they can be eaten raw.
Continues...
https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/history-of-beans-zb0z11zsch/
Good morning.
Weird weather this week. First, blistering hot, and today, a high of mid-50’s.
But a great day for doing some outdoor work without heat stroke.
The garlic scapes are ready to harvest.
Already!
Got some tomatoes growing nicely..
beans, beans, beans, the more you eat the more you poot.
beans, beans, beans, the more you eat the more you poot.
I knew there was the risk of this juvenile mantra when I posted today’s subject.
*Rolleyes* ;)
Hot weather. In the 90s all week. watering every other day. Tomatoes getting good size and I’m waiting patiently (I’m lying) for them to start ripening. Beets about ready to pull. Pepper plants doing good.
Should you report the deport or deport his retort?
I did some to hang in our mountain log cabin just for fun and decoration. The grandkids thought it was fun and a good history lesson. 
Growing Sweet Corn 🌽 in MD.
Last year tried seeds planted directly outside - chipmunks 🐿 ate all.
This year I started indoors and transplanted 8” - 12” stalks outside in mid May.
Over Waist high already.
Beats the : “Knee high by the Fourth of July” here in Michigan! (Currently visiting family in Michigan.)
My current fav green bean is Pride of Vermont...bush variety, but it really wants a 4ft. trellis. This year I’ll dehydrate some and see what kind of leather britches they make. So far, I’m getting lettuce and radishes...2 weeks more for fresh green beans, 4 weeks (fingers crossed) ‘til tomatoes ripen. I have a deer-proof garden, but raccoons make growing corn impossible.
I later took my toddler daughter down the same path and we all sat on the swing.
For years, after my grandmother passed, I would go to the local farm market and pick peas.
Now I grow my own. I'm 78.
Our cool down has been shortened to two days. After that, back to mid-high 90s with Tues being 99. I’m pulling all the lettuce and brassicas today. Potato plants are just starting to go yellow and droopy.
Maters are hanging in there, likely because of my afternoon shade and fairly short sun days. I poked some 1/2” x 4’ fiberglass fence posts in the ground and tied them off but they’re getting close to being as tall as the posts so I’ll have to do something else. Most are in a straight line so I might try a wire above them with strings hanging down from it to hang them from - the lean and lower method.
LOL! Clever! :)
I love that idea! I could see strings of those along with braided garlic. Useful and beautiful. :)
Unrelated to gardening, I had a dream 2 nights ago that my pick up truck was running horribly and in the dream I said to myself this is running like the Beverly hillbilly’s truck.
This morning my truck overheated.
And that is so right!
At my other farm, the 400 acres or so surrounding me were commercial fields for the local canning company. They used a piece of my land as an easement to get machinery in and out, so I got to know the guys pretty well after living there for 25 years.
The years they grew peas were always my favorite, second only to sweet corn. I have shucked a LOT of peas too, LOL! The head guy who came by to check for ripeness would always give me a Heads Up and they would let me pick whatever I wanted a few days prior before they started harvesting. It was pretty awesome. :)
I always left the Lima Beans alone though, LOL!
I’m pulling my salad greens, today. They won’t survive the upcoming 90’s we’ll be starting AGAIN on Monday. Yes, I know it’s SUMMER now, but we’ve HAD SUMMER since May! Ugh!
I’m going to plant Zinnia in their place, thanks to Qiviut and her love of Zinnias. :)
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