Dr. Susan Young is a bean enthusiast, vegetable grower and retired university lecturer. She has 10 years of experimenting with multiple varieties of Phaseolus beans and is the author of the book "Growing Beans: A Diet for Healthy People and Planet". In her book, she takes us on a culinary journey around the world, revealing a range of colourful and historic beans, from the pink Fagiolo di Lamon of Italy to the black and white Bosnian Pole bean. She explains which varieties are best for eating fresh off the plant (green) and which for drying for later use, providing harvests for storing all through winter. Beans offer year-round meals, and dried beans can be the star of the show with their diversity of flavours and textures. Susan shares six must-grow beans, as well as a multitude of European varieties along with their backgrounds. She includes a basic guide to drying your beans and guidelines for cooking them.
Global Bean projects we are involved in:
The wild parents of the common bean (P. vulgaris) grow in an area that stretches from northern Mexico to Argentina, in two broad regions: Mesoamerica in the north and the Andes in the south. Wild beans in the two regions are genetically distinct.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is further disrupting a global food system already undermined by Covid and the unfolding climate crisis. I went looking for guidance that would suggest demand-side, climate-proofed action in response.
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