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OBSERVING DRIED BEAN SEEDS When we eat beans or peas, we are actually eating seeds. When we eat green beans or snow peas, we are eating the seeds and the pods. We are going to take a closer look at lima beans. Black-eyed peas are more easily available in many areas, and can be purchased in the grocery stores still in the pods. Carefully open the pods at the bottom side of the pods, where the beans are not attached. If you tear along the seam, then you can spread open the pod and see the beans still hooked onto the pod at the top seam. Take the beans off the pod, and look at the place where it was hooked to the pod. That rough place is called the "seed scar." Some other kinds of seeds are hooked onto their pods, because they actually grew from the pods, while other kinds of seeds just lie there, in the part of the flower where they developed. The seeds that are lying inside their flowers or the cups that form when the flowers dry and drop off do not have seed scars. Put some of the bean seeds into a small bowl of warm water. Since there is always some air inside the seeds, you will see air bubbles coming out through a tiny hole near the seed scar. This hole is called the "micropyle" (pronounced "my- crow-pile"). That is the place where water can go inside the seed so it can begin to grow after it has been planted in the soil. Most seeds of this type are large, dry, and hard, and it isn't easy for them to start growing when they are just placed into the soil. It is best to soak them in a bowl of water overnight before planting them. The beans that we eat are bought in a sack, and are called "dried beans." They have to be soaked overnight in order to cook properly. If they are cooked without being soaked, they don't swell as much, and sometimes are not as soft as the ones that have been soaked. We're going to leave the seeds in the water for a few hours and watch them. As more water goes inside the seed through the micropyle, the seeds will swell. They will stop swelling when they have soaked up all the water they can hold. This takes about three hours, if you are using lima beans. (If you leave the beans in water too long, like several days, the seeds will rot and mold will grow on them.) Look at the differences between the beans that have been soaked for three hours and the beans that have not been soaked. Sometimes the color fades. There are other differences, too. If you have a scale, you could weigh 10 beans that have not been soaked, write down the weight, and then weigh 10 beans that have been soaked. The soaked beans will weigh more, because they absorbed some water. Sometimes the skin on beans gets all wrinkly after soaking, but the dry beans are smooth. When beans are fully cooked, their skins burst. You can put some of them into a spoon and blow on them, and see their skins flutter in the draft you made by blowing on them.  Any problems with this page? Send URL to
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