the.com/green bean
a vegetable masquerading as a snack, beloved by toddlers and casserole defenders alike
means The long, slender, edible pod of certain bean plants, eaten whole while still young and snappy, before the seeds inside have hardened.
from "Bean" is an old Germanic word — Old English "bēan," with cousins in Dutch "boon" and German "Bohne" — that originally named broad beans and other large seeds long before the slender pod we picture today. "Green" simply marks this bean as eaten unripe, pod and all, rather than dried for its seeds. The plant itself (Phaseolus vulgaris) is a New World native, domesticated in the Americas and carried back to Europe after the 15th-century contact, where the old word "bean" was stretched to cover the newcomer. You'll also hear it called a "string bean," after the fibrous string along the seam — though modern stringless varieties have quietly made that name a fib.
- actually fruit
- Botanically a fruit, since it holds seeds
- snap test
- Fresh ones break with an audible snap
- world record
- Longest grown over four feet long
- casserole fame
- Invented in 1955 by a Campbell's employee
- global names
- Called string, snap, or French beans worldwide
haricots verts — french thin green beans, 4-5 mm diameter, considered the premium variety worldwide
kentucky wonder — heirloom pole bean variety, developed in the 1800s, remains widely cultivated in north america