Haricot Beans (Navy Beans, Sprouted)

Haricot Beans (Navy Beans): Nutrition, History and Complete Guide

The haricot bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) — known in the United States as the navy bean, a name referring to its use as a provision bean for the US Navy from the mid-nineteenth century — is a small, white, oval dried bean that has profoundly shaped British food culture through a single product: baked beans. Heinz baked beans — navy beans cooked in tomato sauce — became an iconic British food from their introduction in 1901, and today over two million cans of baked beans are sold in Britain every day. The British relationship with baked beans is unique globally; while they originated in American cuisine (based on Native American bean and maple syrup preparations adapted by Boston cooks), they are now quintessentially British — on toast, with a full English breakfast, as a jacket potato topping. The haricot bean is also the classic bean of cassoulet — the great duck, pork, and bean casserole of southwestern France — and of French bean soups. This entry's data represents sprouted navy beans.

Nutritional Value

Sprouted navy beans provide 67 kcal and 6.2 g of protein per 100 g. Dried navy beans provide approximately 337 kcal and 22.3 g of protein per 100 g raw, with 10.4 g of fibre. Cooked haricot beans provide approximately 140 kcal and 9 g protein per 100 g. They are excellent sources of folate, thiamine, manganese, phosphorus, copper, and iron. Commercial baked beans retain most of the nutritional value of haricot beans alongside the lycopene of the tomato sauce — they are actually a genuinely nutritious convenience food despite their processed nature.

How to Cook Haricot Beans

Soak overnight, boil in fresh water for forty-five to sixty minutes until tender. For home baked beans: simmer cooked haricot beans in tomato passata with molasses, mustard, and smoked paprika for thirty to forty-five minutes. For cassoulet: use with duck confit, Toulouse sausage, and pork rind, baked slowly for two to three hours with a breadcrumb crust that forms and is broken back into the stew several times. Haricot beans also make excellent simple soups and are the classic base for minestrone.