A new functional food product – microgreen vegetable beans – feature and nutritional properties

Microgreens are valued for their freshness and refined taste, and by adherents of a healthy diet – for their saturation with vitamins, trace elements, antioxidants, enzymes and valuable protein. The product enjoys steadily growing demand not only in the production segment (restaurants, cafes, supermarkets), but also in home cultivation – «vegetable garden on the window». Among vegetable crops, vegetable pea micro-greens are very popular, especially varieties with a mustachioed leaf type. It is this product that helps culinary masters to give products bright visual and taste accents. Few people know that among legumes, in addition to vegetable peas, there is an excellent alternative with no less nutritional value. This is a micro-green of vegetable beans. Bean shoots are more fleshy and juicy, crispy, sweet with a nutty taste, and most importantly, absolutely everyone can grow them. Obtaining microgreens from vegetable bean culture is a promising direction, since its nutritional value and biochemical composition are comparable to the microgreens of vegetable peas. The content of the main nutrients on average for the studied varieties of breeding of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution Federal Scientific Vegetable Center (FSBSI FSVC) is: protein – 20-35% (dry weight), ascorbic acid – 0,51 mg/g, carotenoids – 0,48 mg/g, monosaccharide – 1,15%, dry matter – 10,62%. However, vegetable beans have an undeniable advantage in cultivation – it is the possibility of using up to two or three cuts from one crop, due to the ability to form additional shoots when using the method of cutting under the «root». The yield from the container when sowing 100 seeds obtained in two cuts ranged from 320 g to 400 g, depending on the variety and method of cutting. The highest yield was obtained from the cv. Velena, which forms about 200 g of fresh shoots both in the first and second cut. According to the results of our research, it is recommended to use two cuts for the cv. Belorusskie and cv. Russkie chernye, while the cv. Velena is able to give a full-fledged microgreen even with the third cut.