Showing posts with label legumes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legumes. Show all posts

May 13 - Hummus Day

Posted on May 13, 2020


There is this kind of bean that has a lot of names:
  • chick pea
  • garbanzo bean
  • gram
  • Egyptian pea
  • chana
  • chole
Whatever you call it, this bean is tasty and full of protein, and it's important in Indian and Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. And it has been important for a loooong time - scientists have found remains of chick peas that are 7,500 years old!!

Chick peas are thought to be one of the earliest cultivated (deliberately grown) legumes in the world.

There are lots of ways to eat chick peas. Of course they're eaten in bean salads and in bean-salad sandwiches; they are cooked in soups, stews, and curries; they are ground up to make falafel...


And they are mashed to make today's celebrated food: hummus!

Hummus is typically mashed up and then blended with tahini, garlic, and lemon juice. Garnishes vary from paprika to olive oil, pine nuts to cucumber, hard-boiled eggs to parsley to caramelized onions to tomato to to to ... Well, there are a lot of possibilities!

Hummus is often served as a dip to be eaten with flat bread, crackers, veggies or tortilla chips. It can be served "on the side" with all kinds of meat or fish dishes, or with sandwiches, wraps, or falafel.







Celebrate today by making or buying hummus - and of course eating hummus. Yum! 




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September 13 - National Peanut Day

Posted on September 13, 2018

Are peanuts your favorite nuts?

Trick question - because they aren't actually nuts!

Nuts that are true nuts - that is, that are botanically nuts - are hard-shelled pods that contain both the fruit and the seed of the plant. Here are a few examples:

Chestnuts, hazelnuts, acorns.


A lot of "tree nuts" aren't true nuts, but are instead drupes, because the part we eat are just the seeds of the plant. Outside of the seed is a hard shell and then a fleshy fruit (often not edible for humans). Examples of drupes that we think of as nuts include:

Walnuts, almonds, and pecans.


And then there are peanuts, which aren't any of those things. Peanuts aren't true nuts, aren't tree nuts, and aren't drupes. Instead, they are legumes, in the same family with peas and beans. They are an edible seed encased in a hard shell, but they grow underground!



Peanut isn't too bad a name for this food, since peanuts are related to peas. Some other names for peanuts include groundnuts, ground peas, and goobers. 

If we were to compare peanuts to all the other foods we call nuts, we would find that peanuts are way higher in protein than the rest. Peanuts are also high in vitamins and minerals, and they help us absorb nutrients found in other foods better, and they contain antioxidants. 

Here are a few more facts about peanuts for you to chomp on:

In the U.S., peanuts became more popular when Civil War soldiers ate them - and enjoyed them! - and when P.T. Barnum started selling "hot roasted peanuts" at his circus.

Hot roasted peanuts also became a thing at baseball games. So much so that a song about baseball implores, "Buy me some peanuts and Crackerjacks / I don't care if I never get back."



George Washington Carver famously encouraged farmers to diversity their crops by growing peanuts. He came up with dozens and dozens of uses for peanuts, too!






Enjoy some peanut-ty foods today - like these!






Also on this date:


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January 5 – Bean Day

Posted on January 5, 2014

When I say “beans,” what do you think of?

Long bright green beans? Dark red kidney beans? Pinto beans smashed and refried with chiles?

According to the United Nations, only members of the Phaseolus genus should be called beans. So that includes string beans, runner beans, lima beans, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, green beans, and more. But some people consider any member of the legume family as beans. Using that definition, we can include mung beans, soy beans, fava beans, peanuts, black-eyed peas, chick peas, and split peas, and lentils. Even though we use the word beans, nobody includes coffee “beans,” cacao “beans,” or vanilla “beans” in the bean group.


What good are beans?

Actually, in addition to being tasty, beans provide important things like fiber, protein, complex carbohydrates, folate, B vitamins, and iron. So they are a great part of a healthy diet!


Bean facts
  • Consumers can buy dry beans, canned beans, frozen beans, and fresh beans.
  • North Dakota is the top producer of dry beans in the U.S. – producing almost a third of the total! (Thirty states grow dry edible beans.)
  • Pinto beans are the most popular dry beans in the U.S.
  • Beans came from the New World and were first deliberately grown in Central and South America. Brazil and Mexico are still among the top producers in the world, and Latin America is still the largest producer by region. India is one of the top producers of dry beans, and China and Indonesia are the world leaders in the production of green beans.
  • Many people who live in the tropics eat at least one bowl of beans every single day, beans are such a staple for South American and African people.


To celebrate Bean Day....well, you know what to do! Cook 'em, eat 'em, count 'em, craft with 'em!

Here are seven kid-tested bean recipes. 

Play bean-counting games such as this one or this other one. 


Create some bean bags and play a bean bag toss game. 

Make a beanmosaic using various sizes, shapes, and colors of beans.








Also on this date:

Anniversary of the start of construction of the Golden Gate Bridge 








Bird Day 
















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