ANST --..Historical references to beans...

[Decker, Terry D.]

> Fava or broad beans, however, were not the only period bean.
> Charlemagne's
> CAPITULARE DE VILLIS (ca. 800 AD) refers to a "kidney" bean as well as a
> fava.
> The 14th century TACUINUM SANITATIS IN MEDICINA includes illuminations of
> both
> favas and another quite different plant called a bean.  There are several
> obscure Old World candidates, the Asian dolichos or lab-lab bean seems to
> fit
> the illumination and descriptions the best.  Additionally, in the TACUINUM
> there are illuminations of a chickpea and a plant I haven't yet identified
> called a vetchling that seems to have pods and was cooked much like the
> beans.
> 
You also have fasoles, which are an African variety of Vigna sinensis and
are the ancestor of the modern black-eyed pea.  Another variety commonly
called the cowpea has its origins in India.

Vetchlings are members of genus Lathyrus, but I haven't taken the time to
chase down the appropriate species.


> However, my husband is deathly allergic to all legumes, and we had a bad
> scare
> a while back when someone used the same spoon to stir several pots,
> accidentally adding some peas to a dish that wasn't supposed to have any.
> Luckily, he spotted a pea in his bowl.  Now, we rarely eat feasts that
> include
> legumes, which means we won't be eating this one.  We don't eat pot-luck
> feasts for the same reason.  
> 
Locally, I have the problem with a friend who is anaphylactic to nuts.  I
have to be very careful about the preparation and I warn him away from
dishes which would do him in.  

As a cook, I try to avoid accidental contaminations and I am quite willing
to help the allergic avoid dishes which would ruin their evening.

> BTW, one of the reasons for the importance of favas as a food had to do
> with
> WHEN they were grown.  Favas don't tolerate warm weather and were planted
> after other crops were harvested, getting extended use out of the same
> space.
> New World beans are a tender warm weather crop.  Also, the fava seed I
> have is
> flat, brown and large, larger than a quarter.
> 
> Raisya Khorivovna
> 
A little casual reading last night suggests that there a couple varieties of
fava.  The chief difference appears to be the size of the seed.  There were
no comments on the difference in taste.  I think the seed you are describing
is the large seed variety.

Bear
============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.