Bean There, Found That - From Data Cleanup to Food Discovery

Tags:

One of the unexpected joys of contributing to Open Food Facts is the sense of discovery. You start by fixing a missing field or cleaning up a label and suddenly you’ve stumbled onto something new. The real gems for me are products that are not ultra-processed, the NOVA 1–3 kind.

Today, while cleaning up incomplete entries in OFF India, I came across something simple but exciting. Our first listing for butter beans, also known locally as double beans.

What stood out was the label. It wasn’t just in English which is typical but also in Tamil, a nice glimpse into local food culture. 

It was also fun comparing our humble Indian Butter Beans with its cousins from around the world. A small database entry, but a reminder of how food and culture connect globally.

And guess what? Despite the dangerously delicious name "Butter Beans", they’re actually super low in fat, under 1 g of fat per 100g cooked. The "butter" in the name is purely because of their rich, velvety, melt-in-your-mouth texture.

What they do bring to the plate is impressive:

  • Decent plant protein (~6-7g per 100g) which helps with satiety and muscle repair
  • High fiber (around 5-6g) that keeps your gut happy and blood sugar steady
  • A solid dose of minerals like potassium, iron, magnesium, and folate

The Butter Beans discovery made my data cleanup worth it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB): A Comprehensive Open-Access Resource for Indian Food Composition

Image
If you're keen on taking charge of your nutrition and feel limited by services like HealthifyMe or RecipeDB, you'll be happy to know about the Indian Nutrient Databank (INDB) !  This well-researched, Open Access Food Database (^Github)  offers comprehensive insights into the nutritional aspects of both raw foods and commonly consumed Indian recipes, helping you manage your health better. The INDB consists of two main components: a database of nutrient composition for 1,095 individual food items and a database of 1,014 commonly consumed recipes. Nutrient details of the food items & recipes are also available together as a downloadable Excel file from the website of Anuvaad Solutions  or from GitHub . Whether you're a health enthusiast, a researcher, or a policymaker, the INDB offers unprecedented insight into the Indian diet.  Chart from the research study shows that the nutrient content of commonly consumed composite dishes varied considerably The raw food ...
Read more

Crunching the Data: Analyzing India's Breakfast Cereals 🥣🥛

Image
I analyzed 55 products (with known nutrition facts as of April 24, 2024) in the Breakfast Cereals category of the India database of Open Food Facts - the 'Wikipedia of food'. The data, which has been obtained from Open Food Facts and subsequently cleaned, is available on GitHub in CSV format . You can also view that curated dataset with the Flat Viewer tool .  Here are my findings and fun facts I discovered - * Flattened rice flakes, commonly known as "poha" or "beaten rice," have long been a popular breakfast item in many regions of India. Traditionally sold loosely in retail stores, these rice flakes have recently made their way into branded breakfast cereal offerings, such as those by Tata Sampann. Poha is appreciated for its nutritional value, versatility, and ease of preparation, making it a staple in Indian households and an increasingly popular choice in the global breakfast cereal market. * Flattened rice flakes are produced by parboiling, rolling, ...
Read more

Milking the Data: Analyzing India's Packaged Milk Market🐄

Image
I analyzed 55 products (with known nutrition facts as of April 5, 2024) across 22 brands in the Milks category of the India database of Open Food Facts - the 'Wikipedia of food'. The data, which has been obtained from Open Food Facts and subsequently cleaned up, is available on GitHub in CSV format . You can also view that curated dataset with the Flat Viewer tool .  Here are my findings and fun facts I discovered - * In India, dairy products are a primary source of protein for vegetarians, and Ayurveda, an ancient system of medicine, recommends daily milk consumption. * Dairy products, especially milk, were consumed on the subcontinent at least from the Vedic period  (1500 – 500 BCE).  * The mid-20th century witnessed the White Revolution, or Operation Flood , led by Dr. Verghese Kurien , transforming India into the world's largest milk producer. A breakthrough in making skim milk powder from buffalo milk helped Amul, a major dairy cooperative, successfully compete agai...
Read more