3: Legumes

Legume is a word that describes many different plants that have pods with rows of seeds inside them. Legumes are also called pulses.

Sometimes we eat the whole pod and the seeds inside, and examples of this would include green beans such as runner beans, snake beans, snow peas and snap peas. These can be purchased fresh in fruit and vegetable shops.

Beans are becoming a more popular legume in Australia and we buy them in packets, or pre-cooked and canned in liquid. Beans that you will find in the supermarket will include kidney beans, soybeans, pinto beans, borlotti beans, cannellini beans and garbanzo beans (which are also called chick peas). One of the most popular ways to eat beans is baked beans.

Small green peas are an example of legumes where we dispose of the outer pod and just eat the internal seeds. When these are in season, we eat them fresh. These are often frozen or canned to keep them fresh throughout the year. Peas can be dried, like yellow and green peas, which are often added to soups.

Sometimes the seeds inside a pod are very small and quite flat such as lentils, which are usually red, green or brown in colour. They need to be cooked, they cannot be eaten raw. We buy them packaged in plastic or pre-cooked in cans. Lentils are very nutritious and can be added to soups and casseroles.

Peanuts are not really nuts, but are another type of legume that grows underground. (Nuts grown on trees are not legumes.)

As you can see, legumes form a very big group, and are included in two of the core food groups. Legumes are rich in a variety of vitamins and minerals, carbohydrate and protein. They are an excellent source of fibre and are an important part of a healthy diet.

Combining grains and legumes

Grains and legumes complement each other. This means that when they are served together during a meal, they provide complete protein. This is important to know if you are a person who does not eat a lot of dairy products or food from the meat, fish and poultry food group. These two food groups provide us with many sources of the nutrient protein. If we don't eat them, we can substitute a combination of grains and legumes to make sure we get the protein our body needs to stay healthy.

For farmers, combining the growing of grains and legumes can be a good idea also. When grains have been harvested from a field, planting legumes in the same spot will help to enrich the soil with the nitrogen that the grains have removed from the soil.