Fresh legumes in a row
Green beans, snow peas, string beans. These healthy green heroes are legumes, but are usually seen as vegetables. Unlike other legumes, they contain vitamin C and are also used as vegetables. All about these fresh legumes.
Legumes are the seeds from the pods of a leguminous plant. The green fresh variant contains a lot of fiber and nutrients and few calories. For 200 grams of bean on your plate, you will need 225 to 250 grams of most of the fresh beans.
Note that many legumes contain the natural toxin lectin. Cooking will exhaust the toxic substance. So don’t eat them raw. Beans can be eaten from jars, cans or freezers without cooking.
String Beans
They are flat and can grow up to 25 centimeters long: the string bean. It is eaten finely chopped, because then the aroma comes out best. String beans should look nice and fresh green and feel firm. It is best to prepare and eat them sliced the same day. You can keep them uncut for a few days.
Green beans
You might also know the green bean as the princess bean. The best-known variety is green, but there are also yellow green beans. You can get them well in the spring, summer and autumn. The green bean should also be green and firm. You can store them in a cool place or in the refrigerator (in an open plastic bag) for a few days.
broad beans
A real summer vegetable: the broad bean. It is a seed of a fairly large felt-like pod. Each pod has two to five seeds. Young large seeds are the tastiest. In addition, they are very healthy. Broad beans are high in vitamins B and C if you don’t overcook them.
If you buy fresh fava beans, make sure that the pods are not limp. You can store them in the refrigerator for two to three days. For 200 grams of beans on your plate, you need about one kilogram of pods. To get the broad beans out of the pod, place your thumbs on the rounded side of the pod and press it open. After cooking, you can cap again and remove the stiff skin.
snow peas
You may not expect it, but snow peas are the young pods of the pea plant. They are harvested very young, because then the skin is still young and tender and no membrane has yet formed in the pod. The peas are then barely developed.
When buying fresh snow peas, pay attention to the structure. They should be fresh green and have a crispy skin. You can store them in the refrigerator for a few days, preferably in a plastic bag with holes. You can cut off the tips of the ends before cooking. Some pods have wires along the edge that you can pull off.
Sugar snaps
The sugar snaps are slowly gaining ground. They look a bit like snow peas, but are rounder and taste sweeter. Actually they are not yet ripe when they are harvested. The seeds are still in the pod, but that adds flavor. Sugar snaps must also be beautifully green when purchased. They keep well in the fridge for about two days. Like pods, you can cut off the top and remove the string at the edge.
Haricot Verts
It is the straight slender sister of the string bean and green bean: the haricot verts. They are somewhat softer, less crunchy and darker in color than the green bean. Nevertheless, it is important to choose beans that are not limp and have a fresh green color when purchasing. Then you can keep them for at least two to three days.
garden peas
One pod of the pea plant yields about ten peas. They are freshly harvested; the sugar in the pea has not yet been converted into starch. That gives the nice sweet taste. Fresh peas are only available for a very short time. Only in early summer.
Buy very cool pods, which are visibly full of peas. It is best to eat peas as fresh as possible, preferably within two days of purchase. You open the pod by pressing the bottom of the pod with your thumbs until it pops open. You can then easily remove the peas and rinse with cold water. You need 500 grams of pods for 200 grams of peas.
garter
It is the most exotic of this list. We mainly know garter from Suriname. It is a long, green pod that resembles a stretched green bean. In the tropics, garter can grow up to a meter in length, the Dutch variant has to make do with 14 to 25 centimeters. The taste is spicier than that of green beans. Garter contains, among other things, folic acid, potassium, vitamins B1 and B6.
It is best to buy long beans young, juicy and firm. It will keep for a few days in a cool place (not in the fridge). As with pods and sugar snaps, it is wise to remove the tips and pull off any stiff wear. Count at least 250 grams of long beans per person for 200 grams of prepared vegetables.
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