The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-08-22
A DISSERTATION ON BEANS.

1t is the fashion nowadays to decry
this staple food of our grandmothers.
Beans are said to be coarse, indigestable,
only suitable for the laboriDg classes.
1t is even whispered at times that they
are vulgar, and when Madam Grundy
issues this edict, who 80 bold as to defy
and persist ? Let US be deceltful, let us
be vain, nay even, let us be dishonest,
but vulgar shades of our ancestors
never Therefore propose to put in a
plea for this same despised bean-to
maintain, and endeavor to prove, thFt
they are more sinned against than sin
ming, that properly cooked and served,
they form a most nutritious, appetizing,
healthful and economical food, not only
for stout men and boys but for delicate
women and children as well, Not one
time in a hundred are they properly
cooked, especially when left to servants.
They contain "a per cent of nitrogenous
matter in the form of legumine, or vege-
table caseine, ahd are therefore more
highly nutritious than almost any other
| food. Were it not for the fact that, as
usually cooked, they are rather more
difficult of digestion than many other
foods, there would be no question as to
their super r-eminence as diet One
pound of beans contains nearly six
ounces of heat producing properties and
half an ounce of fleGh-formiug food
which is more than twice as much OF
the flesh-food, and nearly as much of the
heat food as wheat contains. Mingled
with little fat in the shape of good salt
beef or pork, or fresh sweet butter, to in
crease their heat giving properties, they
form nearly perfect food, especially
during the cold winter months.
The economical women who mean tc
provide beans in some form once week
at least, during,the winter, will find il
better to buy them by the bushel. They
will keep indefinitely, and the price pei
bushel is much less proportionately than
the price per quart. For instance, in
northern New England the price pei
quart is now ten cents, while per bushel
1t is only 50 80, saying certainly worth
making. Though the small white pea
bean is the one most often found on oul
tables at the present day, the large darl
cranberry bean has really far richel
and finer flavor, and ought to he cheap
er, since it is more easily cultivated and
prepared for market. In the cities, how
ever, it is more difficult to get them al
any price. The old-fashioned "yellow
eyes" are the nearest to them to be found
and they command dollar peck. The
black beans are usually about fifteen cent
a quart,or four dollars bushel, but ont
uses them IN comparatively so small
quantities that it IS hardly worth while
70 buy them by the bushel.
In Holland and Germany the grea
bean pods are extensively preserved il
salt for winter use. They are cut il
pieces, put down in barrels, salted, aDC
when wanted for use are freshened BY
soaking, and then cooked just as on,
cooks fresh "striug- beans" with us. Th,
tiny pod makes a delicious pickle By
themselves, or as an addition to chow
chow, Indeed there is scarcely an,
limit to the uses to which beans may b.
put as food. They will grow in an!
climate and under almost any circum
stances. In fact they have been cult
waited the world over from time imme
norial as a staple article of diet,-by tn
ignorant savage of Hindostan and Soutt
America, as well as by the more civilized
races IN the temperate zones. At one tim
the carot beans, grown on the shores o
the Mediterranean, were supposed to b.
the locusts upon which John the Bap
tist subsisted in the wilderness, and the.
were therefore commonly called st
Johns bread, but the superstition is nov
of course, exploded. d.-GOOd HouSekeep
ina,