Peasant Food (Beans)
Recipe for Category Food Tips, Hints & Articles
Contributed by Jennifer Peachey
Unlike many other vegetables, green beans have never enjoyed the distinction of being a refined food. They were vegetables for the peasants, eaten when more expensive foods were unobtainable. The fresh green beans were picked when the pods and seeds were still young and tender. The seeds of the mature beans, called legumes, were dried and used long after the crop was finished. Fresh or dried, beans provided abundant nourishment and could be prepared in seemingly endless ways. This still holds true today.
Fresh green beans can be eaten raw or cooked. Take care not to overcook the beans as this will diminish the flavour and colour. Heat releases acids that react with chlorophyll and cause colour loss. Cooking green beans uncovered will prevent the concentration of the acids thereby saving the colour. Allow beans to cook for 5 to 15 minutes for boiling or steaming, depending upon the size and whether they are cut or whole.
Once cooked they can be served warm or cold as a side dish. They can be added to stew, soups, salads, and stir-frys. They can also be marinated, served au gratin or topped with a sauce or vinaigrette. The flavour of green beans goes well with tomatoes, thyme, oregano, rosemary, mint and marjoram.
Along with the flavour and crunch, beans contain complex carbohydrates and little fat. A 100-gram serving of cooked green beans has 7.9 grams of carbohydrates and only 0.3 grams of fat. That same serving provides 1.9 grams of protein and 2.4 grams of fibre. Cooked beans are an excellent source of potassium and provide folic acid, magnesium, iron, copper, and vitamins A and C. Raw green beans also provide phosphorus and calcium. That's a lot of nutrition in a food that, at one time, was only fit for peasants!
*Note: Green beans go by the alias string beans, because of the long fibre down the side of the pod, and snap beans because of the sound they make when the pod is broken. In 1894 the stringless bean was developed but the name was never changed.
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Instructions
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