in their dry form that we harvest most legume crops, since they can be stored indefinitely and are a concentrated source of nourishment (see chapter 9) Green beans and peas are immature pods and/or seeds, harvested before they begin to dry out, and are both very ancient and very recent foods Early humans likely first ate the green pods and seeds, since dried seeds required cooking However, the dried forms were so much more useful that varieties with pods specialized for eating green — with no tough inner “parchment” layer and reduced fiber throughout — have only been bred for a few hundred years Green legume seeds are tasty and nourishing because they’re collecting sugars, amino acids, and other nutrients from the rest of the plant, but haven’t yet packed them all into compact and tasteless starch and proteins The green pods are tasty and nourishing because they serve as a temporary storage depot for the seeds’ supplies The pods also generate their own sugars by photosynthesis, making use of carbon dioxide that its enclosed seeds give off as they grow After they’re harvested, the green pods continue to send sugars to the seeds, so they lose their sweetness We eat the green seeds of many legumes, notably lima beans, fava beans, and soybeans (chapter9), but the pods of only a few: the common bean, long bean, and pea Green Beans Green beans come from a climbing plant native to Central America and the Andes region of northern South America Though the peoples who domesticated them have probably always eaten some immature pods, the breeding of specialized vegetable bean varieties is less than 200 years old There are now chlorophyll-free, yellowish “wax” varieties, and purple, chlorophyll-masking anthocyanin varieties that turn green when cooked (p 281) The fibrous “strings” that normally join the two walls of the pod and are ... sugars to the seeds, so they lose their sweetness We eat the green seeds of many legumes, notably lima beans, fava beans, and soybeans (chapter9), but the pods of only a few: the common bean, long bean, and pea...generate their own sugars by photosynthesis, making use of carbon dioxide that its enclosed seeds give off as they grow After they’re harvested, the green pods continue to send sugars to the seeds, so they lose their... climbing plant native to Central America and the Andes region of northern South America Though the peoples who domesticated them have probably always eaten some immature pods, the breeding of specialized vegetable