Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis

Asparagus Without ( Vigna unguiculata sesquipedalis ), illustration from Blanco

The Asparagus Without ( Vigna unguiculata subsp. Sesquipedalis ) is a crop from the legume family ( Fabaceae ). It is closely related to the cowpea and the Catjangbohne.

Features

The Asparagus Without is an annual plant. There are bush -shaped and climbing forms with spiraling tendrils. The latter are drawn on poles, wires or cords and reach stature heights of 2.5 to 3m. The leaves are in three parts. In their shoulders are white, light yellow, or purple flowers on 4 to 6 cm long pedicles. Otherwise similar to the bean, the flowers have a boat-shaped curved boat, not spirally curled. The flowers are self-pollinating. They open early in the morning and fade by noon. The sleeves are initially upright, later they hang. In Central Europe they reach lengths of 30 to 50 cm, in the main growing countries 60 to 90 cm. Young pods are off-white, light or dark green and have a diameter of 8 to 11 mm. Ripe pods contain 10 to 30 seeds 8-11 mm in length. The seeds are cream-colored, brownish or reddish and have a dark green ring around the navel. The thousand-seed weight is 200-250 g

Ingredients

100 g fresh weight of the edible portion of the beans contain an average of 89.0 g of water, 2.8 g protein, 0.4 g fat and 3.8 g of carbohydrates. At minerals are 210 mg potassium, 50 mg calcium, 59 mg phosphorus, 52 mg of magnesium and 1 mg of iron. The vitamin content is 32 mg vitamin C, 0.13 mg vitamin B1, 0.11 mg vitamin B2 and 1.0 mg niacin. The energy value is 126 kJ ( 30 kcal = ).

Cultivation

The Asparagus Without is propagated by seed. It is drawn on trellises or poles. Especially in Asia bush shaped varieties are grown. Market sleeves can already be harvested 60 days after sowing. The plants produce pods well into the fall, provided these pods are harvested regularly.

When Asparagus Without an annual crop rotation and at a site breaks of three to four years according to a cultivation is recommended. Especially nematodes of the genus Meloidogyne cause damage.

The Asparagus Without is temperature sensitive and is at the highest temperature values ​​below 20 ° C the growth of a. They are sensitive to frost. Germination was carried out at bottom temperatures of from 20 ° to 22 ° C. Good growing conditions are full sunlight with daytime temperatures of 25 to 35 ° C and night temperatures above 15 ° C. They tolerate drought, but the sleeves are fibrous by prolonged drought. Conveniently, annual rainfall of 1500 mm. They grow well in average garden soils. As typical legumes, they have a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with rhizobia.

Use

The young pods are cooked as the kidney bean. They are made ​​fresh, frozen or tinned. Harvesting is done when the pods are smooth and immature and small seeds. They are usually sauteed or fried briefly.

In tropical countries, the growing young leaves are cooked like spinach and eaten as a vegetable. The germinating seeds are used as the seed sprouts. The shoot tips can be used like asparagus.

Green pods are processed in Asia and Africa for canning. In Africa exceeds the use of dry, mature seeds.

In Southeast Asia, East and South Africa, the Asparagus Without is one of the favorite vegetables. Major producing areas are China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, California, Suriname and the Philippines. Less important is the cultivation in the Mediterranean, South Africa and Australia. World production in 1990 was estimated at 1.25 million tonnes. In Central Europe the Asparagus Without being pulled on a small scale in greenhouses, such as in the Netherlands.

The Asparagus Without emerged from the originally African cowpea. This should have happened in Asia. It is now cultivated in many tropical lowland areas. In the 16th century it came to the West Indies, about 1700 in the United States today.

Documents

• Georg Vogel: Handbook of special Gemüsebaues. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-8001-5285-1, pp. 674-678. (Characteristics, use of )
• National Research Council: Lost Crops of Africa: Volume II: Vegetables. The National Academies Press 2006, ISBN 0-309-10333-9, pp. 222-233. (online) (cultivation, use)