Common bean
There are very few people in Taiwan who have never seen common beans! Whether at home or in a buffet, stir-fried common beans are very common vegetables; freshly fried common beans are served on the table, and you can already taste the sweet taste just by smelling the aroma! But the same beans have become like “risotto” dishes abroad: the “red bean and rice” in the southern United States is based on the mature seeds of beans, rice, onions, and bacon (or pig back, pig feet, country Sausages) were cooked together; when I had just gone abroad, I found it very strange for Americans to eat rice. Later I realized that I was the one that didn’t know much, thinking that “foreigners” grew up eating milk, bread and noodles!
Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), also known as “Mindou” in Taiwan, is an annual plant of the genus Phaseolus of the leguminous family. Although in Taiwan and East Asia, the beans are harvested when the pods are still green and eaten as vegetables, but in other countries, dried beans are often harvested when they are ripe and added to soup and rice. The country with the largest dry bean production in 2016 was Myanmar, and the largest production of green beans (immature pods) was China.
Although we use common beans as a vegetable in Taiwan, it is actually one of the most important staple foods in the world. It is currently estimated that 500 million people worldwide rely on common beans as one of the important sources of protein. Because common beans are so important, scientists have sequenced the genomes of two different strains of common beans in 2014 and found that the genomes of common beans are about one-sixth of those of humans; but in terms of the number of genes, the number of human genes is approximately only two-thirds of the common beans. In order to improve the yield of common beans cultivated in the future, the scientists selected another strain with better disease resistance in 2016 and carried out another sequencing analysis, hoping to breed higher disease resistance in the future.
Common beans originated in Central America, and after spreading to the Andes plateau, they were discovered and domesticated by people in both of the places. Like other crops, human selection makes the seeds of common beans larger and tender, the number of pods increases, and the pods do not split after maturity, the fiber of the pods becomes less, and the pods become thicker. In addition, common beans have also become insensitive to short days (long nights to be exact), so they can be planted and harvested throughout the year.
The Mayans in Central America soon discovered that if a piece of land is planted with corn for several years, the yield will decrease; but if the beans are planted before the next corn planting, the yield of corn will not only not decrease, but will increase! This is because there are nodules on the roots of legumes, and symbiotic rhizobia live in them, which can help plants to fix nitrogen. So the Mayans began to grow common beans in the corn fields, and later added squashes to become the so-called “Trifecta” of the Mayans: squash leaves can cover the soil, reduce water evaporation, and inhibit the germination of weed seeds; common beans can fix nitrogen, together let the main crop — corn — grows better!
Beans were introduced to China in the 16th century, and Taiwan may have been introduced by Japan in the early 20th century (1905), or by Dr. Ma Kai (George Leslie Mackay, 1844–1901) at the end of the 19th century. At first, it was planted after the harvest of the second planting of rice cultivation, so it will be harvested before the first planting of rice cultivation next year; in recent years, as society has progressed, everyone has gradually become eating rice less and eating more vegetables and meat, and common beans are becoming more and more popular. In 2016, Taiwan produced 9,807 metric tons of common beans. The first place is Pingtung County, which is more than 30%; the second is Kaohsiung City (more than 20%); the third is Changhua County (15%). Because common beans are becoming more and more popular, the Taichung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station has been actively conducting breeding work in recent years and bred a soft-pod (“tendon”-free) line “Taichung №3”! We often need to pull the “tendon” from the bean pods before we cook them (“tendon” is the thick fiber on the pod that needs to be pulled off), so if you buy the “Taichung №3”, you can just wash, cut and cook it without worrying about the thick fibers!
As I mentioned earlier, the famous “red beans and rice” in the southern United States was actually not cooked with common bean seeds at first. “Red bean and rice” originated from hoppin’ John who only served in Africa during the New Year. Hoppin’ John was originally made with black-eyed peas (a variety of cowpea), rice, onions, bacon and other meats. After the Blacks were “immigrated” to the United States, they missed their hometown flavor and were starting to use American common beans as a substitute. After American common beans replace black eyed peas; because the seed coat of American common beans is red, it is called red bean and rice. Because red bean and rice is easy to cook and tastes good, Americans in the South gradually accepted this dish from Africa, and it has become a southern “tradition” over time. In the United States, eating red bean and rice on Mondays and gumbo on Fridays is the authentic southern way of eating. When I first arrived in New Orleans to study, I was uncomfortable with many foreign foods, but I really like the red bean and rice! The late jazz musician Louis Armstrong also loved red beans and rice the most. He even wrote “Red beans and ricely yours” at the end of his letter.
In Taiwan, we always think that common beans are just vegetables, but they are actually an important source of protein abroad; they even used to replace cowpeas to soothe the nostalgia of those who left Africa. So, don’t underestimate the small plate of common beans on the table!
