2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Creamy bean (lat. Inga edulis) - a fruit crop belonging to the Legumes family.
Description
A creamy bean is a tree growing up to twenty-five meters in height with incredibly spreading bright green crowns. And their pinnate (resembling acacia) leaves are formed by four pairs of thin lanceolate or oval leaves.
The creamy bean blooms with either white or yellow flowers, collected in compacted panicles, the length of which reaches seven centimeters. And the length of the beans can easily reach a meter! As a rule, they are curved and slightly twisted, and on top of their shells you can see a pleasant velvety pubescence. The skin of such fruits is very leathery and hard, and inside each bean there are large enough seeds, which can have both elliptical and spherical shapes. And outside, all the seeds are surrounded by fibrous white juicy-spongy pulp. A very interesting feature is characteristic of a creamy bean - the germination of its seeds starts at the moment when the fruits are still hanging on the trees.
The pulp of the fruit has a very sweet taste and smells quite strongly of vanilla, which is why these beans are usually considered as fruits. In Ecuador, Costa Rica, Brazil and Bolivia, such fruits can often be seen in local markets.
Where grows
The homeland of the plant is the endless expanses of South and the huge plantations of Central America. And nowadays, this culture is grown in Tanzania, and in a number of other tropical countries, which are characterized by a humid climate. You can meet the same creamy bean at an altitude of 1600 meters above sea level.
Mankind knows several varieties of this culture, which were bred by the Indians in the pre-Columbian era.
Application
The creamy bean is eaten both fresh and cooked. True, thanks to the sugary smell, it is unlikely that it will be possible to eat too many of these fruits. That is why they are most often used as an additive for the preparation of all kinds of desserts. And Colombian Indians often prepare chachiri from the peels of these fruits - a local alcoholic drink consumed in huge quantities during festivals of the same name.
Just like most other legumes, these fruits are very rich in protein and very high in calories - their nutritional value is not inferior to meat. In addition, they contain a lot of a wide variety of useful substances.
The spreading tree crowns allow for the cultivation of a creamy bean for shade in cocoa, vanilla, tea and coffee plantations. It is widely used for garden or forest-park cultivation. And the roots of this culture perfectly strengthen the soil, thereby preventing its erosion.
In addition, the cream bean is also grown to increase the amount of nitrogen in the soil, since there are special nodules on its roots, in the depths of which azotobacteria develop. These trees perfectly tolerate scraps, and right down to the roots, and grow back quickly enough.
Decoctions from the bark and leaves of this culture are an excellent astringent for unawares diarrhea, and are also used as a lotion to treat rheumatism or arthritis. A decoction from the roots will serve well for dysentery or diarrhea - it will be especially effective if combined with pomegranate peel. The fruits and bark have been used extensively to treat irritable bowels and dropsy, and the Cuna Indians have adapted to using certain parts of the plant to relieve headaches.
Contraindications
When using these fruits, individual intolerance cannot be ruled out.
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