Bean
Parts Usually Used
Beans and pods
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
The Kidney bean is an annual, twining plant; the leaves are alternate, each leaf consisting of 3 broad-ovate to rhombic-ovate, entire, pointed leaflets. The white, yellow or purplish flowers grow in sparse, axillary clusters. The fruit is a green or yellow pod; the color of the seeds, or beans, depends on the variety. Diverse as they are, all the beans named above are varieties of the kidney bean.
The dry beans are picked when mature, the others at various stages of maturity.
Where Found
Probably originated in South America and is still the predominant bean cultivated in the Americas.
Medicinal Properties
Diuretic
Legends, Myths and Stories
Phaseolus vulgaris (kidney bean) is indigenous to the Americas, being unknown to the rest of the world before Columbus. This species includes the common green bean as well as wax beans, and various dried beans such as red kidney, pinto, and navy. These beans were extensively cultivated and used as trade goods by Native American tribes from Canada to South America, with each tribe having its own names and folklore for the beans.
Before the discovery of the New World, Europeans did have other bean species with various traditions associated with them. On 3 days of the year, the Roman head of the household went through a ritual ceremony of spitting beans out of his mouth to rid his home of evil spirits. This custom carried over to the Middle Ages, where spitting a mouthful of beans in a witch’s face was considered to negate her powers.
Perhaps beans were thought to be a potent deterrent against evil because as a seed they have stored within them the positive life force of all living and growing things. Since 200 BC, tofu (bean curd) has been cooked into a soup to treat colds; the Chinese version of chicken soup. Tofu can be stored up to 5 days in the refrigerator. To preserve freshness, immerse tofu in water and change the water daily.
It is both low in calories and highly nutritious: 6 oz. portion is a mere 100 calories and contains about 6% protein. It is claimed, if the green pods are chewed in ones mouth and applied to any place bitten by a horse, it will help.
Uses
Historical herbalists utilized bean pods with the intention of managing mild cases of diabetes and lowering blood sugar levels. Practitioners generally preferred fresh, unripe pods over dried ones, though dried pods were sometimes prepared as a tea, either alone or in combination with other herbs such as bilberry, milfoil, dandelion, and juniper. Bean pod tea was also traditionally employed for conditions such as dropsy, sciatica, chronic rheumatism, kidney and bladder complaints, and accumulations of uric acid.
Externally, herbal traditions recommended decoctions of the beans for ulcers, sores, and acne. Additionally, bean meal was historically applied to the skin to address moist eczema, cutaneous eruptions, and itching, sometimes in conjunction with German chamomile washes.
How Sold
Supermarket: fresh or dried
Bibliography
, Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , Simon & Schuster/Fireside, Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 Culpeper’s Complete Herbal & English Physician: Updated With 117 Modern Herbs , by Nicholas Culpeper, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1990, (reprint of 1814) Old Ways Rediscovered , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, published from 1954, print 1988 Prairie Smoke , by Melvin R.
Gilmore, Minnesota Historical Society Press, St. Paul, Minnesota 55101, copyright 1987. The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023