Flageolet Beans
Flageolet beans are actually kidney beans, harvested while at the peak of their most tender immature form. Typically, they are a pale green color when shed from their pods, but these tender little seeds have been worked over for centuries in order to procure a seemingly more color pallet friendly white hew. Flageolet beans are used most commonly in French cuisine, as they are particularly favorable alongside lamb and vegetables. Originally cultivated in North America, flageolet beans were taken to France during the early 1800’s and became a quick favorite there, thus the delicate name of the immature kidney bean.
Delicate in both flavor and texture, flageolet beans are most commonly used in cold tossed dishes. Once they have been blanched in salted, boiling water, they are either canned or quick frozen. From there, the bean lover can toss this young seed with any imaginable dressing, oil, or sauce for a fast favorite. A very common such dish is made by tossing flageolet beans with fresh lemon juice and hand harvested herbs. This type of delicacy goes well alongside any cold plate dish, as well as with fish and poultry. The light experience of enjoying these beans is unlike any other, as one usually feels the weight and hardiness of most beans as they hit the stomach. The French, enjoying mere wisps of flavoring as much as they do, have taken a fast liking to the airy experience offered by these baby seeds.
Measuring approximately 3/8 inches in length, flageolet beans are quite noticeably smaller than are their mature red brethren, and are never packed along with the red ones. They do, however, give a striking contrast for beautiful holiday feasts when prepared together, and this technique has spawned some wonderful results. The red and the white tossed on a bed of rich green leaf is a charming and delicious recipe for festivities and for merriment. As far as nutritional value is concerned, flageolet beans carry almost the exact same values as their adult form does, save for the lesser concentration of carbohydrate in the former.
Flageolet beans carry approximately 68 total calories per ½ cup portion without the sods. This is a sizable decline in overall calories from the adult kidney bean, which averages 87 calories per serving of the same measurement. With these decrease in caloric content comes a decreased amount of carbohydrate and protein, but the nutritional values are still quite present along the lines of minerals and nutrients. High in iron, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and also carrying an abundance of both vitamins A and C, these seeds offer supplemental nutrients without having to remember you daily pill. Baring little naturally occurring sodium, flageolet beans will make a wonderful addition to your light menu options.