Saturday, November 8, 2008

Use and Long-Term Storage of Legumes

Provident Principles and Practices
© David Edwards, 2008


PRINCIPLES: “Lay up stores of corn, wheat, oats, peas, beans, buck wheat, and every thing else that can be preserved: for you will see a day when you will want it; and it will be when we shall feel the effects of famine, and when the United States have not any food. – Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses, volume 4, p. 330.

In a Letter to Church Members dated June 24, 1988 the First Presidency at the time asked us in our storage activities to focus on vital basic foods that can help us survive. Among the basics mentioned were legumes.

PRACTICES: Legumes include peas, beans, lentils, and peanuts. Legumes are nutritious, offering those who eat them a rich source of amino acids, minerals, and vitamins. To get a complete protein, you need only eat legumes on the same day as other foods providing complementary amino acids, such as grains. Cooked legumes can be used in soups, stews, casseroles, and salads. Most uncooked legumes can be sprouted. Proper storage, preparation and consumption of legumes allows them to serve as a rewarding component of one’s diet. Legumes tend to be relatively inexpensive. This, the first part of a two-part series, focuses on kinds and uses of legumes, and on long-term legume storage. The second part will address sorting, rinsing, soaking, cooking, and digesting beans.

Kinds of legumes. Legumes that can be purchased locally and stored long-term include adzuki beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, chick peas (or garbanzo beans), great northern beans, kidney beans, lentils, lima beans, mung beans, navy beans, peanuts, peas, pink/red beans, and pinto beans.

Uses of legumes. Adzuki beans can be used in chili in place of kidney or small red beans. Black beans, as well as pinto beans, are used in many Mexican and Latin-American dishes with rice. Black-eyed peas cook quickly; they are often used as a side dish. Chick peas are used in salads and in making hummus and falafel. Great northern beans are used for baked beans or in salads, casseroles, soups and stews. Though they must first be cooked to break down a toxin, kidney beans can be added to salads or chili. Lentils cook quickly without pre-soaking and are great for soups, stews and far-eastern dishes. Lima beans are used as a side dish or in succotash, soups or casseroles. Mung beans, like lentils, cook quickly without pre-soaking. Navy beans are favorites in soups and baked beans. Peanuts do not store well, but some homogenized peanut butters can store for up to two years in jars. Pink/red beans work well for chili. Peas, if split, are good for soup. Uncooked beans can be sprouted and eaten. Beans can be ground for refried (Pinto) beans or soup thickener.

Storage of legumes. Legumes canned in liquid can be stored for several years. Dry legumes can be stored in #10 cans for 10+ years. Dry legumes should be stored in an oxygen-free environment, one that is cool, dark and dry. Beans stored dry tend to get hard after several years but are still edible; they need softening before cooking and eating, or they can be ground. Softening can be achieved by pressure-cooking or by soaking with added baking soda. Freeze-dried legumes, including green peas and green beans, can be stored, if processed very dry, for one or more decades.

For more, see www.mayoclinic.com/health/legumes/NU00260; http://ift.confex.com/ift/2005/techprogram/paper_28584.htm; http://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/htm/dry-beans

Graphics credits:

Fresh green beans: www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/month/images/fresh_beans_01.jpg


Mixed dry beans: www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/month/images/beans_h.jpg


Great northern beans: www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2004/041223.bean.jpg


Pinto beans: www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/jul98/k8089-2i.jpg


Black-eyed peas: www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/images/blackeyed-peas-4.jpg


Chick peas (garbanzo beans): www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2005/051228.chickpeas-i.jpg


Red lentils: www.girlshealth.gov/nutrition/images/beans.jpg


Mung beans: http://plants.usda.gov/gallery/standard/vira4_001_shp.jpg


Red beans in chili: http://fitness.ksc.nasa.gov/images/fitness/health/recipes/layeredchipfinal.jpg