Saturday, July 12, 2008

Provider the king of beans

According to Fedco, the seed company from which we purchased our green bean seeds:

Originally snap beans had tough zipper-like strings between the two halves of the pod which had to be removed before serving. Hence they were called “string beans". (http://www.fedcoseeds.com/)

This season we are growing three varieties of green beans: Provider; Royal Burgundy; and Bountiful Bush Bean. Provider is the best selling brand of organic green beans, but the Royal Burgundy beans are my personal favorite. There is just something exciting about purple beans.

Though we don't often think of green beans in terms of their health benefits, green beans provide a wealth of vitamins and minerals.

Green beans, while quite low in calories (just 43.75 calories in a whole cup), are loaded with enough nutrients to not only power up the Jolly Green Giant, but to put a big smile on his face. Green beans are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin K and manganese. Plus green beans are very good source of vitamin A (notably through their concentration of carotenoids including beta-carotene), dietary fiber, potassium, folate, and iron. And, green beans are a good source of magnesium, thiamin, riboflavin, copper, calcium, phosphorus, protein, omega-3 fatty acids and niacin. (http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=134)


(Tip: When shopping for beans at your farmers' market, you should test a bean to see if it will cling to your shirt. The small hairs on fresh green beans make them cling like Velcro. This also makes them good for playing green bean war.)

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