Beans, beans, beans!

Prepared Foods, June, 1993

If "multiculturalism" and "diversity" are keys to today's trends, where do beans fit in? The truth is, they are sprouting up everywhere. New products guru Marty Friedman noted an, ah, "explosion" in new bean products in his March "New Products Round-up" column in PF: refried beans, chili with beans, baked beans, and bean soups. Many of them fly the colors of Hispanic-American cuisine--with a stress on the "American." Just for the record, we're talking about the lowly Phaseolus vulgaris, cultivars of which include such diversity as black, pinto, red, great northern, the newly chic Anasazi beans as well as many, many more.

Traditions, no doubt, explain part of their appeal, but "face it, beans are very, very good for you," says Washington State University prof. Barry Swanson.

First, notes Swanson, most beans are unsurpassed as a staple source of soluble dietary fiber (20%, on average). Even oat bran can't compete with the lowly bean as a dietary fiber source.

Second, beans may be sliding into the dietary protein void left by the slow retreat of meat products from the American diet.

"Long referred to as 'the poor man's meat,' beans are very rich in protein (about 10%) and, together with cereals, provide the highest levels of protein available in the Plant Kingdom," says Swanson. Proteins from legumes are not as available as proteins from meats, however.

They are also very rich in certain minerals such as iron, calcium, zinc and magnesium.

NEW PRODUCTS

Nothing stimulates new product development like consumer demand. Mexican-American restaurant and fast-food outlets have provided much of this stimulus.

Mark Sterner, chairman of the board for Inland Empire Foods (Riverside, Calif.), says his company is going great guns with a patent-protected technology for instantizing refried beans.

"We first flake and dry our beans, then add vegetable oil and flavorings back to the product," says Sterner.

The economic benefits to the user are numerous.

Today, says Sterner, a fast-food operation usually depends upon cans or in-house preparation for their refried beans. They overestimate their needs in advance, cook the product, freeze it, thaw it, and cook it again to meet the actual customer needs. Excess product is dumped.

"Aside from time, material, storage and labor costs, there is an inherent microbiological stability problem associated with this scenario as the low-acid product is repeatably heated and cooled," says Sterner. Now, with flaked, ready-to-rehydrate-and-cook beans available, the user gets a one-step product quickly prepared to meet immediate demand volumes.

Other companies are also working on pre-cooked and dehydrated bean products.

PUTTING A SPIN ON THE IMAGE ISSUE

All this sounds bullish, but there is that, er, social liability to consider. After all, you rarely see beans invited to cocktail gatherings or fine restaurants. Quite the contrary. They usually make their appearance at open air gatherings, fast-food outlets, or movies featuring hobos or cowboys (e.g., "Blazing Saddles").

"Digestibility is a problem about which not enough has been done. People have not been willing to finance the research," says Swanson. Given America's renewed interest in beans, however, that too may be changing.

It may also be an issue that is overblown.

It has been long believed that flatulence associated with beans is the outcome of two complex sugars, stacchyose and raffinose, which pass through the digestive track undigested until the reach the lower colon. There, bacteria produce the volume of gases (primarily hydrogen) associated with discomfort. (Other sugars, such as lactose and even sucrose, can cause the same problem.)

Swanson believes the problem is more complex. He suspects that starches, protein-carbohydrate complexes, and possibly tannins may also contribute to the flatulence problem.

A long-term approach to this issue is to identify cultivars that are low in these complex carbohydrates and to try to breed these properties into existing cultivars. University of Idaho researchers are searching for such varieties.

"We know that there are some lines in South America designated with TABULAR DATA OMITTED local names for 'sugar' or 'sweet,'" says Kathy Stewart Williams, a research associate at the U. of Idaho.

"Word of mouth is that they are more digestible."

According to Sterner, germination will also eliminate the majority of the flatulence factors from beans. There is a slight flavor change and drop in sweetness, but that can be addressed by adding back sugar, says Sterner.

"We are currently in the process of installing equipment to 'de-gas' our beans," says Sterner.

The more immediate solution is the use of enzymes, such as AkPharma Inc.'s Bean-O, which break down the complex sugars in the stomach. There must exist a more innocuous opportunity for adding such enzymes to processed bean products than sprinkling them as a "medicinal product" at the dinner table. Encapsulation may be one option.

A more serious obstacle to the continued commercial success of beans is the need to establish consistency of quality, in Swanson's view.