Bean salad


Bean salad is a common cold salad composed of various cooked beans – green beans, yellow wax beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans – and typically fresh raw onions, peppers, and/or other vegetables, tossed in a vinaigrette or vinegar and characteristically sweetened with sugar. It can also be prepared as a pickled dish. Bean salad is a popular choice for home canning. Salads prepared with this method should be used within a year for best quality.
Cultures around the world have their own version of bean salad. Balela is a Middle Eastern salad that typically uses chickpeas and black beans with tomatoes, herbs, and lemon juice. South American bean salad features poroto beans with tomatoes, parsley, oil and vinegar, and is served with grilled steak.
It is common in some parts of the United States to refer to this sort of salad by the number of different beans it contains, e.g. "three bean salad" or "four bean salad." The generic term "bean salad" can also be used to refer to related dishes, like variants containing starches such as barley, pasta, or rice.

History

Since at least the 19th century, salads using cooked beans have been commonly used for picnics and outings.

Preparation and storage

The principal ingredients, the beans, have already been cooked and the vinaigrette helps to temporarily preserve the dish without refrigeration. If refrigerated, bean salad can last between three and five days and should be discarded when left out more than two hours. The absence of meat or dairy products in most recipes also allows this dish to keep longer than other food items that require consistent refrigeration and sealed storage.