Technically, beans are legumes Botanically, beans are classified into a group of plant foods known as legumes. All legumes are members of a family of flowering plants called Fabaceae, also known as Leguminosae. These plants produce fruits and seeds inside a pod.
Beans are legumes, but legumes may not be beans. Now that the confusion has been lifted and you are armed with the knowledge of the difference between the two, you can start finding ways to use both in your regular eating habits and diet. Need some beans to use in your recipes?
Though technically a separate food group known as legumes, beans are very similar to vegetables due to their high fiber, vitamin, mineral, and health-promoting phytonutrient content. Yet, they’re unique to most vegetables, as they’re also quite rich in protein.
Legumes — a class of vegetables that includes beans, peas and lentils — are among the most versatile and nutritious foods available. Legumes are typically low in fat, contain no cholesterol, and are high in folate, potassium, iron and magnesium. They also contain beneficial fats and soluble and insoluble fiber.
You see, thus, all beans are considered a legume, but not all legumes are considered beans. The main difference between legumes and beans is that the seeds collected from different plants are called beans, but legumes are plants that have the same type of fruit.
This begs the question “Are beans and legumes interchangeable?”
Others believe “beans” and “legumes” are entirely interchangeable. We wanted to help settle the confusion between these two similar terms so you can learn to eat and cook with both for healthy diet. Legumes are plants that bear fruit that grows in pods.
The veggies we eat may consist of a plant’s leaves, roots, stems, shoots, tubers, or even flowers (as in the case of squash blossoms). In contrast, the legumes we eat come from one specific part of the plant: the seeds . Sometimes we eat the immature seeds, as in the case of beans or green peas, which are sometimes called English peas.
Because the fruit of the green bean plant is in a pod, green beans are actually just legumes , not beans. Some other common legumes that you may have never considered include: asparagus beans, soybeans, black-eyed peas and sugar snap peas.
What food group are beans in?
Beans are nutrient dense with high fiber and starch contents. Thus, they’re frequently considered part of the vegetable food group . They may be further classified as a “starchy vegetable,” along with potatoes and squash. Perhaps one of the most unique nutritional features of beans is their protein content.
A question we ran across in our research was “What food group are legumes in?”.
All legumes are members of a family of flowering plants called Fabaceae , also known as Leguminosae. These plants produce fruits and seeds inside a pod. As legumes are nutritionally unique, they’re sometimes considered their own food group. However, they’re more frequently categorized with other plant foods like vegetables.
Are legumes nutritious?
Technically, legumes are any food that comes from the Fabaceae family of plants. There are many different types of beans and legumes, and they all vary nutritionally . In this article, we examine the most common varieties of legumes and their nutritional values. For each legume variety, you can see its basic nutritional profile.
What are the different types of legumes?
Types of legumes 1 Adzuki beans (also known as field peas or red beans): Soups, sweet bean paste, 2 Anasazi beans: Soups and Southwestern dishes; can be used in recipes that call for pinto beans. 3 Black-eyed peas (also known as cowpeas): Salads, casseroles, fritters and Southern dishes. 4 Edamame: Snacks, salads, casseroles and rice dishes.
An example of a legume would be a pea pod . Examples of pulses include lentils, beans, chickpeas, peas. Wait, green beans aren’t beans?
What are some other common legumes that you have never considered?
Some other common legumes that you may have never considered include: asparagus beans, soybeans, black-eyed peas and sugar snap peas. Is one better than the other?
What are legumes and what are they made of?
Legumes can be broken down into different subsections including: beans, lentils, peas and peanuts . To use an analogy, think of beans as a “peacock” and legumes as “birds”. A peacock is a bird, but other birds aren’t necessarily peacocks. They could be a penguin (lentils), a sparrow (peas) or a heron (peanuts).