Provident Principles and Practices
© David Edwards, 2008
© David Edwards, 2008
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
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