All Beans Explained in 10 Minutes

Black beans. They have been grown and eaten in the Americas for over 7,000 years, making them one of the oldest foods humans have ever farmed. People in ancient Mexico and South America relied on them as a main source of food long before any explorer ever arrived on those shores. Black beans are small, shiny, and dark as night on the outside, but when you cut one open, the inside is actually a creamy white or yellow color. That contrast surprises a lot of people. They have a dense, almost meaty texture, which is why they show up so often in dishes where meat is not used. In countries like Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico, black beans are not a side dish, they are the heart of the meal. They are packed with protein and fiber, and they are one of the most affordable beans you can buy anywhere in the world. Kidney beans. The name comes from their shape, which really does look like a small human kidney, curved and thick in the middle. Red kidney beans are the most common, but there are also white kidney beans, often called cannellini beans, which are popular in Italian cooking. Kidney beans must always be cooked properly because raw ones contain a natural toxin that can make people very sick. In fact, just eating a few raw kidney beans can cause serious stomach problems within hours. Once cooked though, they are completely safe and very filling. They are the bean most people picture when they think of chili, and they hold their shape well even after long cooking times. In Jamaica, kidney beans cooked in coconut milk is a dish called rice and peas which is eaten almost every Sunday in most homes there. Chickpeas. Some people call them garbanzo beans, and both names are used in grocery stores and recipes around the world. Chickpeas are one of the earliest crops ever farmed by humans, with evidence of people growing them going back 12,000 years in what is now Turkey and the Middle East. They are round, pale yellow, and have a slightly nutty flavor that works in both savory and sweet recipes. Hummus, the thick dip that has become popular almost everywhere, is made almost entirely from chickpeas. In India, chickpea flour is used to make breads, batters, and sweets. A strange and fascinating thing about chickpeas is that the liquid inside a can of them, called aquafaba, can actually be whipped up just like egg whites. Bakers discovered this only in 2014, and it changed the way many vegan recipes are made. If you want to keep learning about everyday things in a simple and clear way, hitting subscribe only takes a second, and helps us make more videos like this one. Pinto beans. Pinto means painted in Spanish, and when these beans are raw and dried, you can see why. They are tan with reddish-brown streaks and spots across the skin, giving them a mottled, almost artistic look. Once they're cooked, those markings disappear and the whole bean turns a solid pinkish-brown color. Pinto beans are the most eaten bean in the United States, which surprises people who assume kidney beans hold that title. They are the bean inside most refried beans, the thick spread served with Mexican food across North America. Pinto beans grow especially well in dry climates and have been a major crop in the American Southwest and Northern Mexico for centuries. They have a soft, creamy texture after cooking and absorb flavors from spices and seasonings very well. Lentils. Lentils are technically in the legume family like all beans, but they are often placed in their own category because they look and cook quite differently. They are small, flat, and lens-shaped, which is actually where the word lens in science comes from. The curved glass was named after the lentil, not the other way around. Unlike most beans, lentils do not need to be soaked overnight before cooking. They go from dry to fully cooked in under 30 minutes, which made them a practical food for people throughout history who needed something fast and filling. Lentils have been found in Egyptian tombs and are mentioned in some of the oldest written texts ever discovered. They come in green, brown, red, black, and even orange varieties, and each type behaves a little differently when cooked. Red lentils, for example, almost completely dissolve and become a thick, smooth base for soups and stews. Navy beans. They got their name from the United States Navy, which fed these beans to sailors in large amounts throughout the 1800s and early 1900s because they were easy to store on ships for long voyages. Navy beans are small, white, and oval-shaped with a mild flavor that blends into almost any dish without standing out. They are the bean used in classic American baked beans, the kind that gets cooked low and slow with molasses or brown sugar until the beans become soft and the sauce turns thick and dark. In the United Kingdom, the canned baked beans that people pour over toast for breakfast are made from Navy beans. They are also one of the best beans for soups because they break down slightly during cooking and naturally thicken the broth around them without any extra effort. Edamame. These are young soybeans harvested before they have a chance to fully harden, which is what makes them different from the dried soybeans used to make tofu or soy milk. Edamame are bright green, slightly sweet, and have a firm but tender bite that no other bean really matches. In Japan, they have been eaten as a snack for hundreds of years, usually boiled in salted water and served still in the pod. You squeeze the beans out with your teeth and leave the tough outer pod behind. Edamame became popular in the United States mostly through Japanese restaurants, where they appeared as a free appetizer so commonly that many people grew up thinking they were just a restaurant thing. They are loaded with protein and contain all the essential amino acids the body needs, which is rare for a plant food. Lima beans. Lima beans have a reputation among children for being the most disliked vegetable on the dinner plate, but that reputation comes mostly from the way they were traditionally prepared, boiled plain with no seasoning at all. When cooked well, they are buttery, smooth, and rich in a way that few other beans can match. They are named after Lima, the capital city of Peru, where they were first cultivated thousands of years ago. Wild Lima beans actually contain cyanide, a dangerous poison, in levels high enough to cause real harm. Over generations of farming, people selectively grew plants with lower and lower levels until the modern Lima bean became safe to eat. The large, flat, pale green or white beans sold today carry only trace amounts that cooking removes entirely. Fava beans. These are some of the oldest cultivated plants on earth, grown in the Mediterranean in the Middle East for at least 10,000 years. Fava beans are large and flat with a thick outer skin that is usually removed before eating, revealing a bright green, tender inner bean. They have a rich, slightly earthy flavor that stands apart from most other beans. In ancient Greece and Rome, fava beans were used in voting ceremonies. White beans meant yes and black beans meant no. There is also a rare genetic condition called favism, where some people, mostly of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern heritage, lack a specific enzyme that breaks down a compound in fava beans. For those people, eating fava beans can cause the body to destroy its own red blood cells, which can become very serious. It is one of the only foods in the world that is genuinely dangerous to a specific group of people due to genetics alone. Mung beans. Mung beans are small and green on the outside with a yellow interior, and they have been a staple food across Asia for at least 4,000 years. India, China, and Southeast Asia all have long traditions of cooking with them in different forms. When mung beans are sprouted in water over a few days, they produce bean sprouts, the pale, crunchy strands commonly found in stir fries and spring rolls across Asian cuisine. Most people eating those sprouts have no idea they started as a small green bean. In many parts of Asia, mung beans are also used to make sweet soups and desserts, which surprises people who only know them in savory dishes. Mung bean paste is used inside mooncakes and sweet dumplings in China, and the bean itself is considered cooling in traditional medicine, often eaten during hot weather to bring relief. Adzuki beans. These small, deep red beans are a cornerstone of East Asian cooking in a way that most people outside the region do not fully realize. In Japan, China, Korea, and much of Southeast Asia, adzuki beans are primarily eaten as a sweet food, not a savory one. The beans are boiled with sugar until they form a thick, sweet paste called anko in Japanese, and that paste is used to fill hundreds of different traditional sweets and desserts. Red bean buns, mochi, and dorayaki pancakes all rely on this paste as their filling. In Japan, red beans are associated with good luck, and a dish of red rice made with adzuki beans is traditionally served at celebrations like birthdays and weddings. Adzuki beans are slightly sweet even before sugar is added, which makes them naturally suited for dessert in a way that other beans simply are not. Black-eyed peas. These are not actually peas at all. They are a variety of cowpea and are fully classified as a bean. The name comes from the small black or dark purple spot on the side of each bean that looks exactly like an eye staring back at you. Black-eyed peas originated in West Africa and traveled to the American South through the slave trade, becoming deeply embedded in Southern cooking over the following centuries. In the United States, eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is a tradition tied to luck and prosperity, and the practice is taken seriously in many Southern states. The dish called Hoppin' John, which is black-eyed peas cooked with rice and pork, has been eaten on January 1st for generations. During the Civil War, black-eyed peas were one of the crops left untouched by Union soldiers because they were seen as food only suitable for livestock, which allowed many Southern communities to survive the winter on them. Cannellini beans. These are the white kidney bean, large and smooth with a firm texture that holds together in cooking better than smaller white beans do. They are used heavily in Italian cooking, especially in Tuscany, where the people have been called Mangiafagioli, which means bean-eaters, for centuries. Cannellini beans are the base of pasta e fagioli, a thick pasta and bean soup that has been a staple of Italians for generations. They absorb olive oil, garlic, and herbs in a way that makes them taste full and satisfying without needing any meat at all. In Italian cooking, they are often simply dressed with good olive oil, a little salt, and fresh herbs, and that simplicity is considered the right way to eat them. Their creamy interior contrasts with a slightly firm skin, giving them a texture that works well in both soups and salads where the bean needs to stay whole. Cranberry beans. When these beans are fresh and raw, they are one of the most beautiful beans to look at. Creamy white with bright red and pink streaks and speckles running across the entire surface. Once they are cooked, all that color fades completely and they turn a solid tan or brown, which is a shame, but the flavor that develops makes up for it. Cranberry beans have a nutty, chestnut-like flavor that is richer and deeper than most common beans. They are popular in Italian and Portuguese cooking and are the traditional bean used in many regional Italian soups and stews. In Italy, they are called borlotti beans. In Portugal, they appear in feijoada, though the Brazilian version of that dish typically uses black beans instead. Cranberry beans are also popular in parts of Turkey and the Balkans, where they have been grown and eaten for a very long time.