Tasty, nutritious beans come in many forms

Beans originated in Central and South America and have been domesticated for thousands of years

- Bill Kerr

There are beans for everyone. Some are more suitable for home gardens and small farms, and then there are those conventional types that we all know and which are well suited for growing as important commercial crops.

The common bean, of the genus Phaseolus vulgaris, comes in many forms and is still evolving at the hands of plant breeders who tweak varieties for improved appearance, yield, and uniformity of maturity to enable mechanical harvesting and disease resistance.

In South Africa, most of the types are dwarf beans for fresh harvest and dry beans like sugar beans, haricot beans used for baked beans, and kidney beans.

Green beans used to have strings, which had to be removed before cooking. I still remember having to remove these strings for my mother as a child.

STRINGLESS VARIETY