WINGED BEAN
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Psophocarpus tetragonolobus
FAMILY: Fabaceae
ORIGIN AND DESCRIPTION
The winged bean is thought to have originated in Africa (Madagascar or Mauritius) and to have spread to Asia. It is now usually cultivated as a market crop in the whole of Southeast Asia, a few African countries and the West Indies.
Other names are 'Kacang botor' (Malaysia) and 'Kecipir' (Indonesia).
The winged or four-angled bean is a vigorous-growing climber, up to 3m tall, with large pale blue or white flowers, bearing peculiar four-angled pods. The pods are 15-20 cm long, and have a heavy fringe running along the length of each of the four ridges. They contain 5-20 seeds which can vary in colour from white through varying shades of yellow and brown to black.
The fibrous roots are numerous with the main laterals running horizontally near the soil surface; after a few months they become thickened and tuberous near the base of the plant, though this does not occur in all strains. The roots are normally heavily nodulated.
CULTIVATION
Seeds should be planted in hot, wet climates on loamy soils, two to three seeds per planting hole. The seeds are viable for approximately one year. In certain areas (Burma and the Philippines) the crop is treated as a perennial and the tubers are left in the ground to produce fresh plants. Staking at picking height is recommended. The plant is slow to bear, but continues cropping for over a year.
When the crop is used for tuber production, reproductive pruning (removal of flowers) will give a dramatical increase in root tubers.
USAGE
Winged bean is a potentially valuable multipurpose crop. Pods, seeds, tubers and vegetative parts are all being used. The pods are best in the young tender state, when they are cooked, stir fried or eaten raw.
The fleshy tuberous roots, smaller than those of the bangkuang, Pachyrhizus spp. may also be cooked and, unlike many tubers, have more than 20% of protein on dry-weight basis. They are thus potentially an extremely valuable crop as a replacement for less nutritious roots such as cassava.
DATE: March 1995
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