Lablab bean

Lablab is a vigorous twining vine, sometimes grown as a short-lived perennial, with large heart-shaped leaflets and clusters of purple, pink or white pea-like flowers. The pods are flat, curved and often purple or green, holding three to six seeds. Seeds are oval to round, about 1 centimetre long, in cream, brown, red, black or speckled shades, and many carry a prominent white hilum along one side. The flavour is earthy and slightly nutty with a firm texture when cooked. Young pods and green seeds are eaten as vegetables, mature seeds are sold dried, and the flowers and leaves are also edible after cooking.

Lablab is native to Africa, where wild forms occur, and it was domesticated there before reaching India, where it has been grown for thousands of years and is now a major vegetable and pulse. Indian forms show great variety, from pods eaten fresh to seeds dried for dals. It then spread to Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and the Americas. The genus name Lablab comes from the Arabic lablab, referring to the plant, and purpureus refers to its purple colouring. The older botanical name Dolichos lablab is still found in many books and seed catalogues.

Lablab appears in Egyptian and Sudanese records of ancient crops and spread to India early, where it became part of village agriculture in southern states such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. In Karnataka the fresh seeds called avarekalu support a winter festival and a whole cuisine of dishes, including avarekalu uppittu and mixed vegetable curries, and in Gujarat the pods are used in the winter dish undhiyu.

The plant reached China and Southeast Asia centuries ago, where the pods are eaten as vegetables and some varieties are grown in kitchen gardens as ornamental climbers. The attractive purple pods made it a favourite garden vine in Europe from the eighteenth century, and Thomas Jefferson grew it at Monticello.

In modern agriculture, lablab is valued by farmers in East Africa and Australia as a forage and cover crop because it tolerates drought and poor soils and fixes nitrogen. Plant breeders are also studying it as a climate-resilient protein source for smallholders. Its history also includes poisonings from improperly prepared beans, which led to traditional methods of long boiling and discarding water.

Fresh green pods are sliced and cooked in curries, stir-fries and stews, while shelled green seeds are cooked into pilafs, mixed into rice and used in festival dishes. Dried seeds are soaked and boiled for dals, soups, and sometimes fermented or split. In India, split seeds are used to make savory fritters and snacks. Young leaves and flowers are cooked as greens in parts of Asia and Africa. The plant is also used as animal forage, hay and green manure, and the climbing vines make attractive screens for fences and trellises.

Cooked lablab seeds supply protein, fibre, iron, folate and minerals in diets where meat is limited, and they are valued as a staple food for resilience in dry regions. Laboratory studies describe antioxidant compounds and enzyme-inhibiting proteins, but human trials are lacking, so traditional uses for digestion or inflammation remain unproven. Like other pulses, they contribute resistant starch and fibre. Eating them is best seen as a source of nutrition rather than a therapy.