Edible Legumes

Jesús Alejandro Pérez Romero
Tarea 6 – C1- 12-1b

Categories of Legumes
A legume fruit is a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. A common name for this type of fruit is a pod, although the term "pod" is also applied to a few other fruit types, such as vanilla and radish. Well-known legumes include alfalfa, clover, peas,beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soy, and peanuts. Locust trees, wisteria, and the Kentucky coffeetree are also legumes.
Alfalfa.- Is a flowering plant in the pea family cultivated as an important forage crop for cattle in many countries; It superficially resembles clover, with clusters of small purple flowers. Its primary use is as feed for high producing dairy cows, because of its highprotein content and highly digestible fiber; and secondarily for beef cattle, horses, sheep, and goats. Humans also eat alfalfa sprouts in salads and sandwiches. Dehydrated alfalfa leaf is commercially available as a dietary supplement in several forms, such as tablets, powders and tea. Alfalfa is believed by some to be a galactagogue, a substance that induces lactation. Alfalfa can cause bloatingin livestock; care must be taken with livestock grazing on alfalfa because of its high bloat hazard. Alfalfa is the most cultivated forage legume in the world
Clover.- Is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the leguminous pea family, several of which are extensively cultivated as fodder plants. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution; the highest diversity is found in the temperateNorthern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes on mountains in the tropics.
Shamrock, the traditional Irish symbol, which according to legend was coined by Saint Patrick for the Holy Trinity; are, like most clovers, trifoliate (i.e., they have three leaves), occasionally have leaves with four leaflets, instead of the usual three. Thesefour-leaf clovers, like other rarities, are considered lucky. Clovers can also have five, six, or more leaves, but these are rarer. The record for most leaves is 56, set on 10 May 2009. A common idiom is "to be (live) in clover", meaning to live a carefree life of ease, comfort, or prosperity. This originally referred to the fact that clover is fattening to cattle.
Peas.- A pea is most commonly thesmall spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a (pea) flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking.
In early times, peas were grown mostly for their dry seeds. In modern times, however, peas are usually boiled or steamed, which breaks downthe cell walls and makes the taste sweeter and the nutrients more bioavailable. Fresh peas are often eaten boiled and flavored with butter and/or spearmint as a side dish vegetable. Salt and pepper are also commonly added to peas when served. Fresh peas are also used in pot pies, salads and casseroles. Pod peas are used in stir-fried dishes, particularly those in American Chinese cuisine. Pea podsdo not keep well once picked, and if not used quickly, are best preserved by drying, canning or freezing within a few hours of harvest. Peas are a staple in most cuisines all around the world.
Beans.- Is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae (alternately Leguminosae) used for human food or animal feed. The whole young pods of bean plants, if picked beforethe pods ripen and dry, are very tender and may be eaten cooked or raw. Thus the term "green beans" means "green" in the sense of unripe (many are in fact not green in color).
Beans are one of the longest-cultivated plants. Broad beans, in their wild state are the size of a small fingernail, the seeds were gathered in Afghanistan and the Himalayan foothills. Most of the kinds commonly eaten...