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What Are The Healthiest Beans? Boost Daily Protein And Fiber With These Kinds.

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How The Radical Bean Pie Felled Muhammad Ali And Became An Expression Of Black Sovereignty

When Muhammad Ali lost The Fight of the Century against Joe Frazier on March 8, 1971, he blamed his defeat not on skill or luck, but on the bean pie.

Ali had been unable to resist slices of the custard pie — thickened with navy beans and laced with cinnamon and vanilla — during his training, his personal chef Lana Shabazz wrote in her cookbook, "Cooking for the Champ."

The bean pie rose to prominence with the Nation of Islam, a Black nationalist and social reform movement founded in 1930 that has stirred controversy for its anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ positions. (Ali was initially affiliated with the group before disavowing it and turning to Sunni Islam.) But the dish has since been adopted by the broader Black Muslim community in America.

In Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, just around the corner from the mosque Masjid At-Taqwa, is Abu's, an unassuming bakery with a maroon sign and a crimson door. Abu's, the sign says, is the "bean pie company."

Idris Conry, a Sunni Muslim and Brooklyn native with entrepreneurial verve, started Abu's in 2000 after selling popcorn and cotton candy at local fairs and basketball games. He named the bakery after the Arabic word for "father." Conry's sons, Idris and Muhammed, have helped out at the store since a young age, washing "a thousand pans" as kids, Muhammed told Insider.

Abu's sells an assortment of pies, but is most well-known for its bean pie. Erika Ramirez/Insider

Conry learned the bean pie recipe from a Muslim sister who used to be a follower of the Nation of Islam. Conry turned the pie, rich with a history of self-determinism for Black Americans, into something available to the broader population.

Navy beans were prescribed as a form of Black sovereignty

Founded on beliefs of Black nationalism and separatism, the Nation of Islam represented a profound shift from the more collaborative civil rights philosophies of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. The Nation, led by controversial figures like Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad, instead advocated for a new Black identity free from the legacies of enslavement.

In addition to practices like replacing surnames given by slave owners with "X," the Nation sought to forge a food culture and identity that was distinct from foods associated with slavery, like sweet potatoes, according to historian and educator Zaheer Ali.

"By the 1960s, the pies — and navy beans as a food staple — were part of a broader effort by the Nation of Islam to achieve food sovereignty for Black America," Ali said.

Boxer Muhammad Ali, right, speaks with Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam. Bettmann/Getty Images

Elijah Muhammad, who led the Nation from 1934 until his death in 1975, outlined his dietary prescriptions in his two-book series, "How to Eat to Live." Muhammad emphasized vegetarianism and limiting sugar, processed grains, and traditional soul food ingredients like corn, collard greens, and pork. In his books, Muhammad writes that Allah especially valued small navy beans, "the little brown pink ones, and the white ones," as "very high in protein, fats, and starches, and it is a safe food for prolonging life" up to 240 years.

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The Nation's religious dietary laws weren't just divinely recommended, but also "expressions of cultural self-determination and a means of generating economic activity," Ali told Insider.

"The bean pie was introduced as a shift away from what was considered a diet originating in slavery, and proved to be a popular commodity for businesses and fundraisers," Ali said.

The bean pie as uniquely American

The Masjid At-Taqwa, the mosque just steps away from Abu's, was founded by former members of the Nation who left to practice a more traditional brand of Islam. Conry attended the mosque, and fellow adherents of the congregation flock to Abu's for his bean pie.

A customer in a religious kufi hat in front of Abu's in Brooklyn. Erika Ramirez/Insider

"The bakery has the atmosphere of people coming in from all over, talking about music, talking about politics, talking about this and that," Muhammed Conry said. "It's the community get-together spot, the hangout spot."

The bean pie was typically not sold in stores, but mom-and-pop bakeries like Abu's have sought to popularize it among a broader community. 

"We say it's as American as apple pie. It's created by an African American community in America, so where else could its origins be?" Muhammed said.


Minnesota Researchers Look Into Using Navy Beans As A Protein Ingredient

Nearly two years ago, Pam Ismail, professor at the University of Minnesota and the founder and director of the Plant Protein Innovation Center, and her team obtained funding from the Northarvest Bean Growers Association to study the possibility of turning kidney beans into a source of functional protein ingredients.

According to the PPIC's website, the mission of the Plant Protein Innovation Center is to bring together interdisciplinary researchers and industry partners, including farmers, to deliver to the supply chain new nutritious and functional plant protein ingredients and products, starting from agricultural practices to ingredient development and application.

Turning kidney beans into a source of functional protein ingredients would open up an additional market for the beans outside of the traditional canned and dry beans that would still be appealing to the consumer.

"The flavor is familiar," Ismail said. "They are pulses, so we are also excited to look into their nutritional value. I have high hopes that they have good nutritional quality as a source of complete protein."

However, kidney beans are difficult to dehull, an upstream process that is necessary to produce protein ingredients. Because of this, the group decided to run the same study, just with navy beans instead of kidney beans. Minnesota also is a major grower of navy beans, number one in the nation.

The navy beans were processed at the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute in Crookston, Minnesota. Navy beans, which are a different size, shape and color than chickpeas and dry peas — two legumes (pulses) that already are used as sources of protein food ingredients — require a different dehulling and milling process, Ismail noted.

Ismail's study used two varieties of navy beans — Polar and Polar II — grown at two locations in Minnesota.

Their goal is to develop the method that would produce the purest form of protein, which can be used in different food products. They have successfully produced a high-quality protein ingredient.

The protein content of the navy bean flour was 25%, and more than 80% in the isolate form, Ismail said.

The protein isolate was produced through wet fractionation, Ismail explained. Possibilities to produce a protein concentrate 50-55% protein) by dry fractionation is currently under investigation.

Through the dry fractionation process, there would be two products produced: the light fraction would be the protein concentrate fraction, and the heavy fraction would be the starch concentrated fraction. There could be uses for both of these products.

"But we need the ability to do this dry fractionation on a small scale to test the feasibility since the process might need optimization for dry beans, with is a pulse with different size and characteristics compared to peas and chickpeas," Ismail said.

There is an equipment manufacturing company that wants to partner with PPIC to give them a benchtop fractionator (air classifier). There are also other potential collaborators that may help to evaluate the dry fractionation of navy beans. If it does work out, Ismail will provide samples to companies interested in testing dry bean proteins in different food applications.

Based on research findings, the functionality of the navy bean protein outperformed pea and soy proteins.

The research specifically showed that the navy bean protein was more water soluble and formed stronger gels than several commercial plant protein ingredients which Ismail analyzed as a control.

"This was a pretty exciting finding," Ismail said

In the market right now, there are several uses for plant-based proteins, such as egg replacers, high-protein beverages, meat alternatives, high-protein cereals, high-protein bakery products and nutrition bars. Overall, it appears that dry bean protein could be used in a variety of ways in different high protein food applications.

"I am super excited to take it to the next level, produce enough quantity so we can test it in food applications," Ismail said.

Protein demand is increasing as the world population continues to grow. Ismail said there has already been some interest from consumer-packaged goods companies.

"One of the big CPG companies, they said, 'Pam, give us 50 pounds of that ingredient and we will try it in applications.' They were super excited," Ismail said. "So, I am excited for the possibilities."

However, they want to make sure this navy bean protein is not categorized as ultra-processed. While there is some processing that has to go into making the protein safe to consume, the protein ingredients can be produced without excessive processing. The processes to produce bean protein concentrates can be minimal.

"I mean we have to process foods to make them safe, to enhance their nutrition, and to satisfy consumers palates. But if we reduce the processing upfront, upstream, then when we put them in products, they would have seen less processing in general," Ismail said.

Researchers at the Plant Protein Innovation Center are working on a variety of projects related to plant proteins, including using dry beans in product development.

Courtesy / Plant Protein Innovation Center

Currently, there is not a lot of research into dry beans being utilized as sources of protein ingredients, Ismail explained. After the preliminary research through the funding from NBGA, Ismail's team received a USDA specialty crops block grant to expand the research to include navy, pinto, and kidney beans. That research looks at optimizing upstream processes including dehulling, milling, and dry fractionation to produce protein concentrates that will be compared to protein isolates produced following the wet extraction process they are developing using the Northarvest funding.

"AURI is trying to figure out the best way to dehull these beans since we have now a little bit more funding and a little bit more time. The idea is to also get flour from the kidney and pinto and compared to navy," Ismail said.

Once this dry bean protein hits the market, the demand for dry beans will increase.

"The sky's the limit in where we can put them," Ismail said.

Mitch Coulter, executive director of NBGA, said supporting Ismail's research is an attempt to venture into value-added processing. Along with the various sources of funding the Plant Protein Innovation Center has received, he said thanks also go to Kelley Bean Company, ADM Edible Bean Specialties Inc., Dr. Juan Osorno and NDSU, "who have been great partners in providing bean classes for this work."

"We believe strongly that there is an opportunity for beans to play in the ingredient market. We see more and more interest and opportunity to blend bean ingredients into commercial products to take advantage of the nutrition, protein, and fiber content of dry beans," he said.

Coulter said the work will build a data set to determine the viability of different classes of beans as sources of functional protein ingredients for different application. That can build value and demand.

"This will increase the value of bean classes as we identify high value end uses. The data set will provide the information that can be used by ingredient processors to adopt the production of bean protein concentrate and isolates," he said.

"Protein is in high demand so if we could say 'You can use kidney bean protein concentrate or navy bean protein concentrate, using minimal processing and it has good nutrition, good functionality and it performs well in food applications, then great, growers will have more value for their beans," Ismail said.






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