WINGED BEANS
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Psophocarpus tetragonolobus
FAMILY: Fabaceae
A climbing bean with distinctive pods unknown in Australia until recently.
Origin obscure, grown in all tropical areas. Young beans and pods, young leaves and small tubers are edible. Grows all year in Cairns area provided it receives some water. The pods are best picked young and not quite fully grown, cut across into bite-size pieces and braised very quickly in a little oil. Overcooking spoils them and tends to make them a little limp and tough. Mature seeds should always be thoroughly cooked before eating. This is no drawback.
Although people are unaware of it, many types of beans, including soy beans, which are sold in dried form contain enzyme inhibitors destroyed in cooking.
There are two different types of winged beans: those grown for beans and those grown for pods. Both types are now in Australia and being spread around among gardeners.
The bountiful bean, the winged bean was discovered growing in peasant gardens in remote areas in Papua New Guinea and South East Asia. Agronomists in at least 70 countries are testing what may be the long-sought 'soybean of the tropics'. Will grow to a height of 5 metres or more. A leafy mass of turning tendrils, the plant is decked from top to bottom with flowers of white and blue which quickly develop into pods.
Pods may be green, purple or red in some varieties. They are four-sided, with a square or oblong cross-section. A distinctive flange or wing projects from each corner. Picked young, these pods are a succulent green vegetable that can be eaten raw, steamed, boiled or stir fried to make a crisp, chewy delicacy.
The leaves, rich in Vitamin A, can be cooked and eaten like spinach. The tendrils are like delicious lacy asparagus, and the flowers, which look like steamed mushrooms when cooked, have a sweet flavour. The tuberous root swells to the size of a small potato. This can be boiled, steamed, fried or roasted and is four times richer in protein than potato, 10 times richer than the common tropical source, cassava.
The winged bean seed has created the greatest excitement. If the pods are left on the vine, they dry out and harden, but the soybean-like seeds inside continue to swell and mature.
Rich in protein (up to 40 percent) and edible oil (about 17 percent), the seeds have a nutritional value equal to that of soybeans.
Amino acids that make up the seed protein of both beans (winged beans and soybeans) are present in similar proportions, as are vitamins and other nutrients. Once cooked, both beans are highly digestible and both are rich in iron and Vitamin E.
WINGED BEANS ADDENDUM
I disagree with some of the above information. I have been growing wing beans at Kuranda for 13 years and here are my corrections:
Wing beans may grow all year round in some areas, but in Kuranda, the winter cold causes their decline in July. The plant will regrow with moisture and warmth if the soil is undisturbed. Wing beans are light-sensitive at the end of June. In warmer climates flowering should continue till October if watering is sufficient. As they will not flower and fruit during the long days of summer, there is no advantage in planting seed before Christmas or watering the perennial plants till the flowering time. Flowers are white, mauve or different shades of blue depending on variety ... not white or blue on one bush. I have 6 varieties.
Varieties are not grown for beans or pods. Those that bear soft pods for eating usually have insignificant tubers but lots of beans. I have given up growing the varieties with big tubers, as the pods are of poor quality for eating.
Wing beans are not attacked by any pests in my garden - a Godsend for organic gardeners. I found soya beans difficult to grow and you cannot eat the young pods raw as you can wing beans.
DATE: May 1989
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