    
Lupini Beans
Lupini Beans look like large flat fava beans or a slightly-uneven coins.
They are members of the pea family. Lupini Beans are yellowish-brown in colour, with a small hole at one end.
Lupini Beans are used a good deal in salads, or they are cooked, chilled then salted as a snack. Lupini Beans are used as a snack in Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Lebanon, Spain and Portugal. In Portugal, as a snack they are called "tremocos."
Lupini Beans have a slightly bitter taste, which comes from alkaloids in them. Traditionally, they were so bitter that only livestock ate them, but someone figured out a couple thousand years ago how to make them edible. The process to render them palatable is sort of labourious, like olives, but fans say it's worth the effort.
Less bitter strains, known as "Sweet Lupins," were developed in the last half of the 1900s, but they still need soaking and a long cooking time to remove even the reduced bitter taste.
You can buy pickled, jarred Lupini Beans in brine. To eat the jarred ones, drain and discard the liquid. Serve in a bowl, pick up a bean, suck the bean flesh out of the skin and discard the skin.
Cooking Tips
Preparation methods vary, particularly in southern Italy where every village, not to mention every family, can have its own secret trick. Here's a generic method to prepare Lupini Beans:
Rinse beans to clean them. Soak overnight. In unsalted water, bring to a boil, then simmer until they turn yellowish -- about 1 hour. Let cool in the water, then drain into collander and rinse. Soak for 3 to 5 days in clean water. Change the water daily, or more frequently if you see a film developing on the surface on the water. Each time you change the water, pop the beans in a collander and rinse them as well. Start tasting after 3 days. If they are no longer bitter, then they are ready. When ready, either:
a) refrigerate them in a mixture of water, vinegar and salt; OR
b) refrigerate them in a mixture of water and salt.
Either way, refrigerate them in a clean (if not sterile) container that can be covered.
Let Lupini Beans marinate in the refrigerator for at least a day or two before you start to serve them.
Equivalents
1 cup dry = 3 cups, cooked
Also called:  Sweet Lupins Lupins doux (French) Lupinen Süss (German) Altramuz dulce (Spanish)
Other entries for Beans
Adzuki Beans, Anasazi Beans, Apache Beans, Appaloosa Beans, Aramis Beans, Aunt Emma's Beans, Baccicia Beans, Baked Beans, Bayo Beans (Louisiana), Black Beans, Black Nightfall Beans, Bleu du Lac St-Jean Beans, Broad Beans, Brown Rice Beans, Bush Beans, Canary Beans, Chana Dal, Chickashaw Beans, Chickpeas, Chinese Long Bean, Cow-Itch Beans, Cowpeas, Cranberry Beans, Crochu de Savoie Beans, Dainagon Beans, Dolico Veneto Beans, Dragon Tongue Beans, Dry Beans, European Soldier Beans, Falcon Rice Beans, Flageolet Beans, Flor de Junio Beans, Flor de Mayo Beans, Fortin Family Beans, Fradinho Beans, French Fillet Beans, Garboncito Beans, Garrofo Beans, Good Mother Stallard Beans, Great Northern Beans, Green Beans, Green Flageolet Beans, Green Rice Beans, Hopi Black Pinto Beans, Jackson Wonder Beans, Kahnawake Mohawk Beans, Kunde Beans, Lablab Beans, Lima Beans, Lupini Beans, Madeira Beans, Magpie Beans, Mexican Bayo Beans, Moth Beans, Mung Beans, Navy Beans, Nodak Beans, Pebble Beans, Peruano Beans, Pigeon Peas, Pink Beans, Pinto Beans, Pole Beans, Rattlesnake Beans, Red Ball Beans, Red Kidney Beans, Red Nightfall Beans, Refugee Beans, Rice Beans (Asian), Rice Beans, Rio Zappe Beans, Romano Beans, Runner Beans, Sangre de Toros Beans, Sator Beans, Seluga Beans, Shelling Beans, Soybeans, Tarahumara Canario Beans, Tepary Beans, Tiger's Eye Beans, Tolosana Beans, Toscanelli Beans, Trout Beans, Tweed Wonder Beans, Vallarta Beans, Wax Beans, Wild Goose Beans, Winged Beans, Witkiem Beans, Zolfino Pratomagno Beans
Other entries for Legumes
Lentils, Peas
Top...
|
|
| |
|