Hensley’s Bean Basics: An Overview of Bean Types

Beans are a summer garden staple and show up at nearly every farm stand. They're easy to grow, useful in many ways, and come in a huge range of types and varieties.

Recent introductions from bean breeders have brought more color, higher yields and better disease resistance, and above all, today's beans eat better than ever.

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"Henry David Thoreau, who planted a long bean field beside Walden Pond, wrote that he came to love his rows of beans and that they tied him to the earth, even as he wondered what he and the beans would learn from each other."

–H.D. Thoreau, Walden

Beans are among the most nutritious foods there are, a staple diet item across the globe, and part of culinary traditions going back thousands of years.

Put simply, it's hard to imagine a growing season without them.

'Vroma'
Favas (broad beans)

Hensley’s offers dozens of bean varieties of many different types originating from around the world.

View all our bean varieties…

Beans are so diverse that they can be grouped in many ways. Two simple ways to sort them:

First, on the basis of their plant habit:

• Bush Beans form low, compact mounds, usually about 1–2' tall.
• Pole Beans are climbing or vining types that can get very tall and usually need a trellis.

Second, according to the stage at which they're eaten:

• Snap Beans aka String Beans are eaten fresh, pods included.
• Fresh Shell Beans are picked while the seeds are young, plump, sweet and starchy, before they begin to dry.
• Dry Beans are eaten once the seeds have fully matured and dried in the pod. Shell beans left on the plant to dry become dry beans.

Here's what the common bean subtypes mean.

• Snap Beans

  Snap beans can be bush or pole types. They're eaten whole while immature, when the pods still break with a crisp snap. Some are called string beans and green beans, though modern breeding has removed the string from most, and they aren't always green either; pods can be green or purple. (For a side-by-side look at bush snap varieties, see our Bush Bean Comparison Chart.)

• Filet Beans

  Popular in France, where they are called haricots verts, filet beans are bush snap beans picked very young and tender. They taste best at ⅛–¼" thick and are valued for their slim pods and crisp yet delicate bite. In Britain they are also called fine beans, and they're considered a gourmet specialty. They need frequent picking to keep the extra-fine pods coming but are otherwise easy to grow.

• Wax Beans

  Wax beans are bush or pole snap beans with yellow pods, sometimes streaked with purple, with a soft, satiny, slightly waxy look.

• Soybeans

  Soybeans are the fresh-shell and dry beans of Glycine max, a species native to East Asia. Also called soja or soya beans, they are eaten around the world and valued for high yield, protein and oil, and for countless uses: cooked green or dry, and made into flour, soy milk, tofu, soy sauce and miso. Vegetable soybeans for the garden are usually early-maturing types.

Some Lesser-Known Bean Types

• Fava Beans (a.k.a. broad beans)

  Fava beans are the one bean that prefers cool weather. In northern areas, sow them in early spring for an early-summer crop or in late summer for fall; where winters are mild, a fall sowing gives a spring crop. Also called broad beans, they're good as both fresh shell and dry beans. 'Vroma' is sturdy, resists falling over, and handles heat better than most favas.

• Lima Beans

  Limas are a separate species (Phaseolus lunatus) from snap beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). They need warm soil to sprout and a long, hot summer to yield well, so they do best in hot regions, though with enough warmth and protection they can succeed farther north. The early 'Fordhook 242' is a long-standing standard. Tip: Small baby limas types that thrive in the South are often called butter beans.

• Edamame

  These are soybeans bred for eating at the green-shell stage, when the beans have just filled out and before they turn starchy and dry. Usually boiled or steamed, edamame are typically served in the pod with a sprinkle of sea salt. Long a favorite in East Asia, edamame are now a familiar appetizer in Asian restaurants across the U.S.