**Uses and Consumption of Green Beans:**
– Green beans can be sold fresh, canned, or frozen, and consumed raw or cooked through various methods like steaming, boiling, stir-frying, or baking.
– They are commonly used in soups, stews, casseroles, and pickled for preservation.
– A popular dish featuring green beans is green bean casserole, often served during Thanksgiving.
**Nutritional Value of Green Beans:**
– Raw green beans are composed of 90% water, 7% carbohydrates, and 2% protein.
– They are a good source of vitamins C, K, B, manganese, and dietary fiber.
– In a 100g serving, green beans provide 31 calories and are low in fat.
– Other micronutrients in green beans are in low supply.
**Origins and Characteristics of Green Beans:**
– Green beans originated in Central and South America, with evidence of cultivation in Mexico and Peru for thousands of years.
– The first stringless green bean was bred in 1894 by Calvin Keeney, with most modern varieties being stringless.
– Green beans are classified into bush beans, pole beans, and half-runner beans based on growth habit.
**Varieties of Green Beans:**
– Over 130 edible pod bean varieties exist, with pod colors ranging from green, purple, to red.
– Common types include string or snap beans, stringless or French beans, runner beans, and yellow-podded green beans.
– Varieties range from thin and circular to wide and flat pod shapes.
**Cultivation and Resources for Green Beans:**
– Various resources like books and online guides provide information on cultivating green beans, such as planting directions for specific varieties.
– The global production of green beans in 2020 was reported by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
– The Seedsmen Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding green bean varieties, and resources exist for growing and cooking green beans.
Green beans are young, unripe fruits of various cultivars of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), although immature or young pods of the runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus), yardlong bean (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis), and hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus) are used in a similar way. Green beans are known by many common names, including French beans (French: haricot vert), string beans (although most modern varieties are "stringless"), and snap beans or simply "snaps." In the Philippines, they are also known as "Baguio beans" or "habichuelas" to distinguish them from yardlong beans.
They are distinguished from the many other varieties of beans in that green beans are harvested and consumed with their enclosing pods before the bean seeds inside have fully matured. An analogous practice is the harvest and consumption of unripened pea pods, as is done with snow peas or sugar snap peas.