January 6, 2011 | 1 minute read

Today is National Bean Day and a good excuse to try a new bean-dish.

Why today?, you ask. It’s in tribute to the scientist who put the pea plant in everyone’s grade-school textbook: January 6 (in 1884) is the date when Gregor Mendel died. (His thousands of experiments with pea plants laid the foundation for the science of genetics.)

Peas are one of the handful of beans people frequently cook. But there are a lot of beans out there and there are plenty of health and budget reasons to add more beans to your meals.

You can read about the many benefits of beans in today’s issue of AICR’s eNews.

eNews also features a brief Video Spotlight on beans, complete with cooking tips and a recipe idea.