Green beans are young, unripe fruits of various
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
s of the common bean (''
Phaseolus vulgaris''),
although immature or young pods of the runner bean (''
Phaseolus coccineus''), yardlong bean (
''Vigna unguiculata'' subsp. ''sesquipedalis''), and hyacinth bean (''
Lablab purpureus'') are used in a similar way.
Green beans are known by many common names, including French beans (),
string beans (although most modern varieties are "stringless"), and snap beans or simply "snaps". In the Philippines, they are also known as "Baguio beans" or "" to distinguish them from
yardlong beans.
They are distinguished from the many other varieties of beans in that green beans are harvested and consumed with their enclosing pods, before the bean seeds inside have fully matured. An analogous practice is the harvest and consumption of unripened
pea
The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...
pods, as is done with
snow peas or
sugar snap peas.
Culinary use
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
Cream of mushroom soup is a simple type of soup where a basic roux is thinned with cream or milk and then mushrooms and/or mushroom broth are added. It is well known in North America as a common type of condensed canned soup. Cream of mushroom ...
, and
French-fried onions.
Nutrition
Raw green beans are 90% water, 7%
carbohydrate
In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may o ...
s, 2%
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...
, and contain negligible
fat (table). In a 100 gram (3.5 oz) reference amount, raw green beans supply 31
calorie
The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of o ...
s and are a moderate source (range 10–19% of the
Daily Value) of
vitamin C
Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits and vegetables, also sold as a dietary supplement and as a topical 'serum' ingredient to treat melasma (dark pigment spots) ...
,
vitamin K,
vitamin B6, and
manganese
Manganese is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of ...
(table). Other
micronutrients are in low supply.
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.
Production
In 2020, world production of green beans was 23 million
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s, with
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
accounting for 77% of the total (table).
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.
[How to Grow French Beans](_blank)
– Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...
, RHS Gardening
Bush beans are short plants, growing to not more than in height, often without requiring supports. They generally reach maturity and produce all of their fruit in a relatively short period of time, 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 3–10 feet 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.
[Singh B K, Pathak K A, Ramakrishna Y, Verma V K and Deka B C. 2011. "Purple-podded French bean with high antioxidant content". ''ICAR News: A Science and Technology Newsletter'' 17 (3): 9.]) are collectively known as snap beans, while green beans are exclusively green. Shapes range from thin "fillet" types to wide "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
Pole (climbing) types
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 presenting variation in color, size, shape, and texture
File:Pickled Beans (3920862383).jpg, Pickled beans
References
External links
Green beansat
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...
{{Authority control
Edible legumes
Pod vegetables
Phaseolus
Thanksgiving food