Liz Warren | Storyteller

1. Bean is a name used for the seeds of leguminous trees and shrubs, and for plants that have edible seeds or seed pods

2. All beans are high in protein. Next to grains, they are the most common source of food in the world.

3. There are many kinds of beans: broad beans, soybeans, lima beans, kidney beans, string beans, shell beans and pea beans.

4. Broad beans and soybeans originated in Europe, but the rest were originally grown in the Americas by the native peoples. The common bean is believed to have first been cultivated in southern Mexico and Central America over 7,000 years ago.

5. The Greeks and Romans used the broad bean for voting. The white seeds meant agreement, the black seeds meant disagreement.

6. While beans are easy to grow, they are also easily susceptible to diseases like rusts, blights and wilts.

From the book, Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook for Young Readers and Eaters, Tales Retold by Jane Yolen and Recipes by Philippe Beha.

 

This illustration is "Jack in the Beanstalk" by Maxfield Parrish (1923).