Navy Beans

If you have observed navy beans closely, they are white colored pea sized beans which can be used in various types of recipes. There are many names by which these beans are identified, e.g.: pea bean, haricot beans, Yankee beans and Boston beans. Initially, known as white beans, they got the name "navy beans", since they were used as a staple food in the US Navy in the early 20th century. The popular beans dish, baked beans, found its fame because of these tasty basic types of beans. These are transported and consumed in dried and canned forms as they have a very long shelf life. There are also many health benefits provided by these beans as they are very rich with important nutrients, making them a must in one's daily diet. Therefore, read on to find some useful information about their nutrition and a few recipes mentioned in the coming up paragraphs.

Navy Beans Nutrition

Navy beans can also be grown in your own garden if you are fond of gardening, as they are very good looking plants. As mentioned above, they are rich with some of the basic nutrients required by our bodies and thus, including them in the diet can prove healthy. The navy beans nutritional facts are mentioned in the list below, take a look.

Calories	127
Total fat	1 gram
Carbohydrate	8 %
Fiber	38 %
Sugars	0
Protein	7 grams
Folate	2 %
Sodium	0 %
Potassium	10 %
Iron	12 %

With so many nutritional facts about navy beans, you will also find some health benefits of these beans. Like other beans which belong to legumes list, the navy beans too, consist of cholesterol lowering fibers, which also prevent high blood sugar levels. Thus, they are a must in the diet of diabetics, hypoglycemia and insulin resistant patients. As you may have observed in the table mentioned above, these beans are rich in folate, manganese, protein, vitamin B1 and minerals like phosphorus, copper, magnesium and iron, which are some of the most important nutrients for healthy metabolism in our body.

Navy Beans Recipes

After learning about all the nutritional and health benefits of these navy beans, or white beans, let's read a bit about how you can enjoy them! There are so many food recipes in which you can add these delicious and creamy beans to get the perfect pill of health. However, you need to remember a few things before you cook navy beans, such as cleaning off the debris found in them. You can then use a strainer to wash them thoroughly with running water. Boiling and baking these haricot beans is one of the most perfect ways of consuming these beans, and then, they can be added to any type of dish. A few such preparations are mentioned below, read on and find out!

Baked Navy Beans
Ingredients

• 2 cup Navy Beans
• 1½ cups Water
• 2 sliced onions
• 4 chopped cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons Canola Oil
• 2 cups diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt, pepper and soy sauce
• 1 cup grated Cheddar Cheese

Directions
For this recipe on homemade baked beans, wash and soak the navy beans for one night and while preparing the dish, drain them through a strainer. In another skillet, add some water, add the beans and place them on the heat so that they are boiled on medium heat for about an hour. Meanwhile, saute the onions and garlic in oil in a sauce pan and then add the beans with the stock. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and the soy sauce and let it thicken for sometime. Then, add the mixture to the baking dish and bake it at 350 degrees F for 2 hours, add cheese and bake for 15 minutes and then serve it hot with loafs of bread! There are many other dried beans recipes, which you can prepare with these beans as well.

I am sure you found all the information you were looking for about navy beans in this article written just for you. So, go ahead and include these beans to your daily diet as they are nothing but a very healthy treat to your taste buds.