Cannellini beans, also known as white kidney beans, are one of the many nutritious, delicious beans that are also beautiful. Photo by Tanya Shkondina | IST.
June 2005 |
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Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Rice, Beans & GrainsBeans & Grains GlossaryPage 3: Terms With D ~ J
Click on the letter of the alphabet in this bar to get to a term a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z This material is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in whole or in part DURUM WHEATIndigenous to North Africa, durum serves as a main cereal grain for many of the food preparations in these countries. A hard variety of wheat, it is used to manufacture pasta because its texture enables the pasta to be cooked to an al dente state where other varieties of wheat would become overly soft. Semolina is milled durum. EDAMAME
Edamame photo by Hilary Brodey | IST.
FARINA or SOOJIA fine meal prepared from cereal grain and various other plant products. The texture is almost like coarse grains of sand. It is used in everything from hot breakfast cereals to exotic Indian desserts. Farina is ground into a fine consistency (farina is the Italian word for flour), and is best known in the U.S. as the branded Cream of Wheat and Cream of Rice porridges. As a hot cereal, farina has been compared to grits; however, farina is finely ground, while grits, made only from corn, are of a coarser texture. Wheatena, a brand of toasted wheat porridge, also is of a coarser texture than farina cereals. FARRO or SPELTSee spelt. FAVA BEAN or BROAD BEAN or FABA or HORSE BEAN The fava bean (Vica faba) is a flat, oval bean, 3/4 to 1 inch in length, housed in a large, green, inedible pod. It has an assertive, almost bitter earthy flavor and granular texture. Fava beans originated in ancient Egypt and spread throughout the Mediterranean, where they were cultivated as both human and animal food (and were a staple in the diet of the pyramid builders); cultivation can be traced back to the Bronze Age in Switzerland and the Iron Age in Great Britain. The fava was the only
FLAGEOLET BEANSSmall beans that can be found in black, green, red, white and yellow varieties. Flageolets, about a half inch in length, are often mistaken for small kidney beans. GARBANZO BEAN or CECI or CHANNA or CHICKPEA One of the oldest cultivated legume species known, garbanzo beans (Cicer arietinum) go back as far as 5400 B.C.E. in Mesopotamia. They are small, hard, knobby beans, a rich beige-yellow color, about 3/8 inch round. While high in carbohydrate, their nutty flavor, minimal fat, GREAT NORTHERN BEANA mild, white, oval bean, similar to the white kidney bean. GRITSGrits are corn kernels, soaked to remove the casing (at which point it is known as hominy—hence the term, hominy grits). The hominy is left to harden and then is ground to the texture of tiny pellets, the “grits.” These are boiled with water, into a cereal similar to cream of wheat. See also polenta. GROATS
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The cooked green soybean is very popular as a snack, squeezed from the pod. It is also served as a side dish and used as an accent in casseroles, salads, soups, rice and pasta dishes.
bean known to Europeans until the discovery of America. In ancient Greece, Pythagoras forbade his followers to eat them because, according to legend, fava beans were said to contain the souls of the dead. More likely, Pythagoras discerned the connection between eating undercooked fava beans and the anemic blood disorder now called favism. Traces of the fava’s cultivation have been found in Bronze Age sites in Switzerland and in Iron Age sites in England. Until Spanish explorers brought Phaseolus vulgaris to Europe in the 15th century, favas were the only bean in town. And then, of course, it was Hannibal Lecter, in “Silence of the Lambs,” who claimed to have eaten the liver of a census taker “with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.” These fat broad beans can now be found fresh in ethnic groceries, distinctive in their long, tough pods; unshelled, they look like larger, flatter, squared-off lima beans. They are enjoyed as side dishes and in stews. Other names include English, Scotch, Windsor and field rounded bean. 
nutrition (they are a good source of calcium, B Vitamins, protein and iron) and versatile culinary qualities have pushed garbanzos to the forefront in American cooking over the past 30 years—not just in hummus, minestrone and salads but in the ever-expanding vegetarian cuisine. They are pale and light brown and are used whole, popular in North Indian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. In North India they are made into the popular chola/channa masala (chili) dish and are made into fritters. In the Middle East they are made into hummus, falafel, and added to pilafs. In North Africa they are added to couscous. Now they have found their way into Mexican, Cuban and other Latin American cuisines. Garbanzo is also available as chickpea powder. Other names include cheechee, cici, gran, kabuli, pois chiche and safaid beans. Ground garbanzo beans are sold as chickpea flour or cici flour. 
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