Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The racemose flowers of the hyacinth bean can be purple, white, yellow, or pink.
HARVEST
Harvest pods when they are dry and brittle (for most varieties, they will also be brown at
this stage). Cowpea and mung bean pods burst open easily, so harvest these carefully, just before they
are fully ripe, and give them extra time to fully dry. Hyacinth bean pods, however, can be difficult to
thresh and are best threshed by hand. For more detailed harvesting and drying instructions, see com-
mon beans.
Cowpea blossom
Hyacinth bean cuisine
In our gardens, hyacinth beans are most appealing as ornamentals, but in countries that grow
them the most, they are important food and medicinal plants and sometimes fodder crops. In In-
dia they are widely eaten as green beans, and ripe seeds are split to make dahl (note: ripe seeds
contain cyanide and should be soaked and cooked well to neutralize it). In Indonesia, blossoms
are eaten like vegetables. Often seeds are soaked, sprouted, and then dried and stored for later
use as a vegetable or ground into flour. Hulled, they can be ground into a paste, heavily seasoned
and fried; Egyptian falafel (
ta'amia
) is sometimes made from hyacinth bean flour. Roasted seeds
are also eaten, in addition to the root stock.
