Black beans are rich in plant protein and microelements that help digestion. Black beans, like other legumes, are widely used in American and Mexican cuisine. In China, the Shokoladnitsa variety of beans is used to make sweet pies. Beans were widely used in the preparation of Russian cuisine, but with the advent of beans they were undeservedly forgotten. Today beans are grown in England and America in industrial scale. You can buy black bean seeds at gardening stores.
Harvesting Black Bean Seeds
Black beans, like all leguminous plants, are harvested for seeds in mid-July - early August, depending on the bean variety. By this time aboveground part plants dry out completely. The dead wood is mowed down and the pods are left in the sun for several days. The pods are then harvested and the seeds are extracted from them. Each pod contains three seeds with a diameter of five to seven millimeters. Next, the seeds are laid out in the sun and dried for three days.
Black beans are planted in late May - early June, and two seeds are placed in each hole. The soil is disinfected with a hot, slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate.
After the first shoots appear, the soil must be loosened well to ensure air circulation. Then the black bean sprouts are treated with insecticidal preparations so that the small leaves are not affected by the leaf roller. When the bean bushes reach a size of 1.5 to 2 m, depending on the variety, they can be harvested.
Harvesting and culinary uses of black beans
From one bush you can harvest up to 200 black beans, depending on the type of crop. The legumes will be ready for harvest when the pod stalk is completely dry, in late July or early August.
To be eaten, beans must either be soaked in cold water, or boil. This will neutralize the dangerous poison found in raw black beans. Black beans are also stewed with tomato sauce.
Beans increase gas formation, to avoid stomach upset, add black beans to dishes. Due to the large amount of carbohydrates contained in black beans, bean dishes are very high in calories. They charge you with energy and strength for the whole day. If you boil black beans and add them to a salad, you will get a tasty and healthy dish.
There are, perhaps, no other vegetables that could compete with beans in terms of the amount of protein they contain. Actually, that's why this useful crop This is how vegetarians love and respect: in addition to beans, they can get complete proteins with essential amino acids from nuts and grains. It was as a nourishing and very nutritious vegetable that beans began to be grown by ancient farmers, and only then they discovered many additional useful qualities and properties. And today they are rightfully considered one of the most healthy and dietary grain crops. Although, traditionally they are classified as vegetables.
Use in folk medicine
The fruits of the plant are very rich in vegetable protein, the content of which is about 35 percent of the dry weight. About half are carbohydrates, the rest is fat. It is known that fava bean contains many essential amino acids that are not synthesized in our body.
Official medicine does not use these fruits in any medicinal collection, but, nevertheless, in folk medicine, fava bean still finds its application.
It is used as an astringent for diseases characterized by the presence of loose stools of non-infectious etiology. Most often, the seeds are consumed in the form of a paste or decoction.
Some folk recipes suggest external use of beans in the presence of inflammatory skin diseases. Sometimes it is even recommended to brew fruits not in water, but in milk. It is believed that their antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effect is somewhat enhanced.
Benefits of beans for vegetarians
The composition of beans, as well as beans, peas and soybeans, is a very rich source of plant proteins.
In structure and composition, these proteins in beans are slightly different from animals - they have a slightly different amino acid filling, and they are absorbed in the body in a slightly different way. However, all essential amino acids for humans are present in beans, allowing vegetarians who use them as an alternative to meat not only to feel good, but also to engage in sports that require a protein-rich diet. Bodybuilding, for example, or gymnastics.
At the same time, the benefit of beans for athletes is not only that they help build muscle mass, but also in that they do not allow fat deposits to form in the body.
Beans for weight loss
Really, chemical composition beans contains very little vegetable fat in beans. There are practically none in it. But there is plenty of fiber, which ensures the body’s normal processes of digestion and absorption of all necessary components food.
Interesting beneficial properties beans for those who want to lose weight: in the stomach and intestines they create a kind of film that separates the food bolus from the walls. Through this film, the absorption of carbohydrates is difficult, and therefore, even a few hours after eating a bean dish, a person feels full.
Are beans good for cholesterol?
By the way, relatively recently the benefits of beans in reducing blood cholesterol levels were discovered.
At first, the scientists who discovered this dependence began to “blame” it all on fiber, which beans are quite rich in. But then they discovered that the cholesterol-lowering effect was significantly greater than that of other vegetables containing about the same amount of fiber. Consequently, beans have some other useful substances or mechanisms for regulating the absorption of cholesterol.
The secret has not yet been clarified, but the fact remains, and beans are prescribed for consumption by everyone who has increased level lipoproteins in the blood and there is a risk of developing atherosclerosis.
Contraindications
But beans, whose beneficial properties are appreciated all over the world, are a specific product. Like peas, lentils and beans, they are famous for their ability to cause increased gas formation in the intestines. And that's probably the only thing harmful property, limiting their popularity and use.
Indeed, even those who do not suffer from flatulence and frequent disorders digestive system, often experience discomfort after a hearty dish of beans. This is due to a large number nitrogen in their composition, which forms volatile substances under the influence of gastric and intestinal juices.
And experienced chefs quietly chuckle to themselves: they know the secret of how to make beans “explosion-proof.” You just need to soak them for enough time. long term before cooking. This, by the way, will also lead to a shorter cooking or stewing time. However, there are other contraindications for beans. So, they should not be used in cases of hepatitis and gout - in these cases they can cause a deterioration in the health of patients.
Medicinal properties of beans
But beans, whose beneficial properties are so important for digestion, are good not only for the stomach! And not only their grains can be consumed while taking care of your health. What other benefits do beans have for the body?
You can prepare a decoction, for example, of flowers. It is useful for removing allergic reactions and various rashes, to reduce skin reaction to bites different insects. The bean shells can also be boiled and this decoction can be drunk to alleviate the symptoms of diabetes. And it, as well as simply boiled grains, is useful in treating boils for their speedy ripening.
Beans (by the way, Russian black beans are especially popular in Russia) are a real table treasure. They were the main food of ancient Arab civilizations and Egyptians. And many tribes of North American Indians used them as the main side dish for meat dishes.
And if you use simple technological methods to get rid of the main drawback of beans, then with their help you can easily make your diet much more healthy, varied and inexpensive. And this is a direct path to simplicity, health and longevity.
Archpriest Maxim OBUKHOV
The table of today's city dweller is very different from what our ancestors ate during the times of Kievan and Moscow Rus. Potatoes, rice, sunflowers, corn, soybeans, tomatoes - all this was brought to our region relatively recently. At the same time, many cultures are either partially forgotten or gone completely, such as spelt, a cereal plant from which porridge was made.
The question of what ancestors ate is not only of ethnographic interest. It is known that the composition of enzymes that break down food is genetically determined. People of other nationalities easily digest what may be inedible for us. This is the result of both a different lifestyle and genetic differences passed on from generation to generation. Therefore, it is good to eat what your ancestors ate. However, you should not take this principle to the extreme and immediately remove potatoes with sunflower oil from your diet.
So, what did they eat in Rus' during the times of Ilya Muromets and Prince Yaroslav the Wise? In addition to bread and oats, beans were the main food of all segments of the population. There are many varieties of this crop, and of these, Russian black beans are closest to those that our ancestors ate. Beans have been cultivated in Rus' since time immemorial. Under Prince Vladimir, there were even special storage facilities for beans in case of war, crop failure or natural disasters. Exceptional endurance and frost resistance makes this product truly strategic for Russia.
Beans are repeatedly mentioned in ancient Russian chronicles and literature. In a sense, they are part of our culture. “Beans are not mushrooms: they will not sprout without sowing” (Russian proverb). “And in the waiting room there are already people like beans on a plate” (N.V. Gogol, “Dead Souls”). “Yes, order some greenery, fresh beans... - Beans, eight hryvnia a pound! - she stirred in her throat, but did not come out of her tongue” (I. A. Goncharov, “Oblomov”).
I.A. Bunin describes Jerusalem this way: “These dark little shops, where for a thousand years everyone has been selling the same thing - bread, fried fish, bridles, silver rings, bunches of garlic, saffron, beans - here it is, the true Palestine of the ancient barbarians, of the earthly days of Christ!
And this is from a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, familiar to everyone from childhood: “When the old woman poured beans into the cauldron, one bean, unnoticed by her, fell to the floor next to a straw lying on the floor...” And is it by chance that famous fairy tale did the bean vine open the way for the simple peasant from the hut cellar to the very heavens?
Many times beans, legumes are mentioned in Old Testament. “Take yourself wheat and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make yourself bread from them” (Ezek. 4:9).
Beans were also known in prehistoric times, as evidenced by the results of archaeological excavations. Their images, found on the Korean Peninsula, date back to the 15th century BC. Chinese beans - soybeans - were known already 6 thousand years ago.
In other words, this plant has been a companion of man at all times of his history. (By the way, the nutritional value of soybeans is 94% of nutritional value chicken egg, but unlike animal products, soy does not contain cholesterol, which makes it dietary product, recommended for older people.
There is an entire industry in the US producing soy milk, cream, cottage cheese, meat substitutes and much more. Americans usually eat other types of beans in their pure form.
A plant ideally adapted to the northern climate are Russian black beans, which will provide you with adequate nutrition even in the leanest years. They have no analogues in terms of frost resistance: they can be grown up to the Arctic Circle; The time from germination to the first harvest of green beans is incredibly short and amounts to 50-55 days. Young shoots can withstand frosts down to -5 degrees! In general, this plant is extremely unpretentious. Responding well to the application of fertilizers, it at the same time produces crops even on poor soil.
Russian beans are erect plants, reaching a height of 1 meter; fruits 12-18 cm long with large black grains (larger than beans) are formed in the axils of the leaves.
Russia is a country, as they say, of risky agriculture. In most of our territory, it is possible to grow a strictly limited number of crops that are resistant to cold, sudden temperature changes and low soil fertility. The economic use of these lands is extremely important for us. So decide what is best in the garden: heat-loving beans, which require in our climate special care, or unpretentious beans? At the same time, it is worth paying attention to the yield of the latter: one bean produces several dozen fruits.
High yield beans are obtained from clayey fertile soils. The ground for them needs to be dug up in the fall to at least 25 cm. Beans are sown as early as possible: in late April - early May, as soon as the snow melts; planted in a single row at a distance of 40 cm between rows and 12 cm between plants in rows; embed to a depth of 6 cm.
Beans germinate at 2-4 C°. Mature seeds are harvested 110-120 days after germination. At the same time, they can also be used unripe, adding them to soup. Sometimes, under the weight of the harvest, straight stems bend to the ground, then it’s a good idea to support them with taut wire. Blackening of the pod is a sign of ripeness. Such pods are removed and dried indoors. At the last harvest, all the plants are picked whole and hung in bundles with their roots up to ripen.
There is one agrotechnical trick. Legumes are " green fertilizer", that is, they enrich the soil with nitrogen and increase its productivity. Enrichment occurs due to the symbiosis of roots with the so-called. nodule bacteria. In terms of the amount of fixed nitrogen entering the soil, growing one crop of legumes is equivalent to applying a ton of manure per hundred square meters of land. Moreover, the beans have a deep, good root system and can extract water and nutrients from a depth inaccessible to others garden plants, so there is no need to allocate special beds for this crop.
Beans are good predecessor for other crops. Moreover, they can be planted together with potatoes - one seed in each hole. Then a double harvest of both potatoes and beans will be harvested from the field. Nitrogen absorbed from the air enriches the soil, and mixed plantings will create unfavorable conditions for Colorado potato beetle. Root system Black beans also repel the potato pest wireworm with their smell.
It's a good idea to plant a row or two of beans with north side vegetable garden Their long and thick panicles will reliably protect other vegetables from the north wind and improve the microclimate in the garden bed, which is especially good for tomatoes, pumpkins and others. southern plants. Like any other garden plant, it is advisable not to sow beans in the same place for two years in a row. They are planted in the same bed only after 3-4 years.
There is one more point. It is known what role labor plays in raising children; Some families specially set up children's beds. And children usually like to plant bean seeds - they are large, do not slip out of their hands and germinate quickly.
IN lately beans are gaining increasing popularity in cooking.
Let's remember the secrets of their preparation.
Before cooking, the beans are soaked for 6-12 hours in cold boiled water, which is then drained. Cook them for 4-5 hours over low heat, or longer. A pot of beans was left in the Russian stove until it cooled down. If you have electric stove, the pan can be held on its own low heat all night. To check readiness, take 2-3 beans in a spoon and blow on them: if the skin comes off, they are ready. But you can cook longer until the beans begin to burst. The longer they are cooked, the tastier they are.
Boiled beans with sauce, butter and seasonings - a wonderful side dish for any dish. For soup, you can boil them until they begin to disintegrate. You can season the soup with beans, crushed after boiling in a blender or boiled to a pulp. Beat the gruel with a mixer or simply grind it to grind the rough skin, then add water until it reaches the consistency of cream and cook the soup according to your taste. famous recipe- it turns out tastier, healthier and more filling than just water. An excellent sauce is prepared from heavily boiled beans - beat them with vegetable oil, add lemon, salt and spices. Boiled beans are also added to salads.
Pasta You can prepare the boiled whipped beans for future use by putting them in molds and freezing them in the freezer. Throwing a cube of such paste into vegetable soup at the beginning of cooking, you are without high costs time and labor you will get nutritious gourmet dish. It can also be added to the dough as a filler - the result will be tasty and satisfying baked goods.
Bean fritters. For this purpose in bean puree you need to add flour, eggs and fry as usual. This product is indispensable during fasting. Porridge, potatoes, and bread oversaturate the body with carbohydrates, which is unhealthy, while beans make a lean diet healthier. There is an opinion that beans are poorly digestible and even cause indigestion. This is not entirely true. It’s just that, like any other heavy food, they need to be cooked correctly and, of course, you shouldn’t overeat and under no circumstances eat them undercooked.
Beans with garlic: Black beans 110 g, lard 30 g, butter 5 g, cumin 1 g, peeled pumpkin seeds 15 g, salt. The beans are sorted, washed and soaked in cold water for 12 hours, then boiled for 2 hours and the water is drained. The lard is finely cut into cubes, fried in oil, mixed with beans, crushed garlic, cumin, pumpkin seeds and heated. Serve the dish hot.
And lastly: beans are a good early honey plant, and their moth-like flowers will decorate your garden.
There is no person who has not tried beans at least once in his life. But not everyone has thought of growing them on their own plot. But in vain! This culture is completely unpretentious and does not require complex care, but it is very useful for human body. Beans contain large number vegetable protein, and this is their superiority over other plants.
There are many different varieties legumes, but the most common are Russian black beans.
Description of the variety
This culture is one of the ancient ones. It was zoned in the forties of the twentieth century, but it is a hybrid of an old Russian variety that was grown before the Baptism of Rus'.
One of the features of these beans is frost resistance, so they can be grown in any territory of Russia.
Black beans are highly branched. More than ten pods appear on one stem, each up to seven centimeters long. IN good conditions the height of the crop can reach a meter or even more.
The fruits themselves are wrinkled and slightly curved. Inside each there are at least three elongated oval-shaped beans. Flat, dark purple, they have no pigment, so they can be consumed in any form.
Benefits and harms
The only negative thing we can say about beans is that they cause flatulence and slight discomfort in the stomach, especially when consumed simultaneously with baked goods.
But they have much longer positive properties:
- they contain many amino acids that the human body needs;
- Eating beans helps lower blood sugar;
- have a diuretic, anti-inflammatory and restorative effect;
- improve metabolism.
And all this thanks to the rich chemical composition.
Landing
Russian black beans prefer heavy clay soil - this is the best for them. best option. But it can also be planted on lighter, but always moist, soil. The crop produces poor seedlings on acidic and sandy soils, but peaty and swampy ones are perfect.
It is better to prepare the place for planting legumes in the fall. The soil must be dug up efficiently and deeply, at least 25 centimeters. With the beginning of spring you need to fertilize the soil mineral fertilizers or organic. Beans are one of the earliest crops, so they can be sown from the beginning of April, when the ground has already thawed and retained a lot of moisture.
Before sowing, the seeds should be carefully sorted, removing all spoiled and damaged ones. Then soak them in water for no more than five hours. Warming up significantly increases germination, so it’s a good idea to keep them warm. heating battery within three hours.
Vegetable beans should be sown directly next to each other at a distance of 10-15 centimeters. The embedment depth is about seven centimeters. Neighborhood with potatoes or cucumbers will have a beneficial effect on yield.
Care
Even before the emergence of seedlings, the soil should be loosened and inter-row cultivation should be carried out with a hoe. To get good germination and a rich harvest, you need:
- regularly remove nearby weeds;
- loosen the soil more often;
- over the entire season, carry out three treatments of the space between the rows;
- strengthen the root with the help of hilling (when the plant reaches 30 cm);
- water abundantly;
- apply mineral fertilizers.
Very important point is the splitting off of the apex. This will help stop the growth of the plant, and then it will put all its energy into the fruit, and not into the stem.
Harvest
Russian beans should be harvested when the seeds are already ripe, but have not yet lost their tenderness and formed a black groove at the point of attachment to the pod. First, you should remove the fruits from the bottom of the plant: they are broken off, opened and the seeds are released.
In the case when the fruits will be used entirely, i.e. full pods, they need to be collected when the size of the beans reaches 1 centimeter, and the pods themselves will be at the peak of juiciness.
If the grains are planned to be consumed raw, then harvesting begins when the maximum seed size for that variety is reached.
Diseases and pests
Growing beans is not a labor-intensive process, but to get a good harvest, you need to take care of the plant and promptly notice the slightest changes in it. The crop is periodically susceptible to attack by pests, and variable weather conditions push to the development of various diseases.
Pests
Among the pests, “lovers” of legumes are:
- nodule weevil;
- alfalfa, legume, pea aphids.
You can cope with them with the help of insecticides. Just remember: do not spray flowering plant. This will discourage bees and interfere with pollination.
Diseases
Frequent lesions of legumes are:
- Blackleg.
Amazes root collars plants, while they are depleted and covered gray coating. Infection occurs through the soil in which the disease lives. You can save legumes by pouring a solution over them Bordeaux mixture or copper sulfate. - Chocolate spot.
Spots with pycnidia in the center appear on the plant. Sometimes the beans themselves can be affected. With strong spread, the leaves die and the fruits dry out. The spread of the disease contributes to high humidity. It is no longer possible to help the plant, but you can avoid infecting others. To do this, it is necessary to remove and burn the remains of the affected crop. - Fusarium.
A fungal disease that affects vascular system culture. Appears as a thick pink coating. If not noticed in time, the plant will wilt and then die. Prevention of this disease is to treat the seed before planting. - Rust.
It appears as yellowish or brown pustules mainly on the leaves, but can also affect the stems. Treating with fungicides will help get rid of the disease. - Ascochytaosis.
Legumes are covered with yellow, brown, dark spots with a red rim. Salvation lies in dusting with crushed coal and spraying with fungicides. Severely affected plants should be removed and burned - they will not be helped.
Beans and moles: myth or truth?
There is an opinion that moles will not penetrate the territory that is fenced by planting black beans. This is true. Culture serves as a natural barrier to these pests. So, the motto “Beans vs. Moles” is quite true. The main thing is to plant this plant throughout the area to create a kind of “bean fence”.
Black Russian beans are a wonderful crop. Growing it is not labor-intensive, and the end result is a magnificent harvest, from which you can prepare many delicious dishes.
There are many reasons to grow on personal plot. And, first of all, these are the beneficial properties of these crops. They are rich in protein and can practically replace meat in the diet. One of the most interesting varieties beans - Russian black. They are not only very tasty, but also beautiful in the garden, dining table and even in the photo. You just need to learn how to plant them and care for this plant.
Brief History
It is generally accepted that peasants in Tsarist Russia They ate poorly: cabbage soup, porridge and turnips, mushrooms and berries - that’s the whole diet. Although, in fact, this is a huge misconception. Even before the advent of potatoes imported from America, Russian housewives had many nutritious products in their culinary arsenal. They were the key to the good health of our ancestors.
One of these products is beans. Today they are rarely seen in domestic kitchens. Unfortunately, they have become fodder crops. But bean dishes can be very tasty. In addition, they are rich in protein and fiber. Another undeniable advantage of beans is their unpretentiousness when growing. Therefore, they can be planted even in areas where it is difficult to get anything at all.
Russian black beans were bred by breeders not so long ago - in the 40s of the last century. But in composition they are very close to the ancient Russian variety from which they were derived. Our ancestors ate approximately the same product even before the Baptism of Rus'. And any anthropologist will say that beans are extremely useful product at the genetic level.
Beans are a very healthy product
Features of the variety
Russian black beans are a plant that produces a powerful root and a branched stem. Depending on climatic conditions and care, there can be either 2 or much more branches. This variety grows from 50 to 110 cm. 6-16 beans ripen on one shoot.
The beans of this variety are curved and wrinkled, with a sugary taste. They do not have a pigment layer, so they do not need to be peeled. They reach 1.5 cm in width and up to 8 cm in length. Despite their name, the “beans” of this variety of beans are not black, but dark purple.
From the first shoots to harvest it can take a little more than 2 months. It seems like a long time. But, in fact, this is a much shorter period than many other legumes. Beans begin to be harvested when the lower fruits turn black and valves appear on them.
Attention! Those whose garden is being attacked by wireworms should pay attention to this variety of beans. To get rid of it, you need to plant black Russians along the entire perimeter of the site.
Rules for planting and care
This variety is very unpretentious in planting and care. However, to get good harvest, you'll have to put in a little effort.
- Soil selection. Under black Russian beans experienced gardeners advise to choose heavy soil with a neutral or slightly acidic pH. They only fertilize it. Also earth will do marshy or rich in peat if fertilized with copper. You can plant beans in lighter soils; before doing this, they need to be well fertilized and moistened. This variety grows poorly on acidic soil, if it is not limed. But the sandy one is not suitable in any case.
Advice. It is good to plant beans after row crops: beets, cabbage or turnips. And as a predecessor it is suitable for any culture.
- Landing. It is better to prepare the soil for legumes in the fall - dig up at least 25 cm. But in the spring it will not hurt to add organic and mineral fertilizers. You need to sow Russian black beans early spring, as soon as the melt water recedes, so that the soil is rich in moisture. Before planting, the seeds need to be soaked briefly and allowed to hatch. You need to sow beans in a line using thumb or vegetable seeder.
- Care. The first maintenance work should be carried out immediately after planting. It is necessary to roll and harrow the soil even before the first shoots appear. During the growth period, it will be necessary to process the inter-row space 2-3 times. Legumes need to be loosened, the roots strengthened from the wind, and fed with mineral fertilizers. It is important to shorten the plant in time by pinching off the growing point. Then the juice will go into the fruit and not into the stem.
Fruits of Black Russian Beans
Disease and pest control
To get a harvest, you need to fight pests and diseases of legumes.
- The nodule weevil is removed with the help of insecticides.
- Aphids (alfalfa, legumes, peas) are removed using pesticides.
- Chocolate (brown) spotting is prevented by treating the seeds.
- Fusarium - the fight against this fungus is carried out by treating the seeds and calcining the soil.
- Birds - they can be dispersed with a scarecrow or special repellers.
Attention! Do not spray beans during the growing period. This may discourage bees during pollination.
If everything is done correctly, Russian black beans will give a rich harvest, which can be actively used in cooking. This variety of beans is suitable for making stir-fries, pies and pies, pancakes and much more.
Black beans: video
Russian black beans: photo
