Implications of genetic variability for dry bean cooking time and novel cooking methods for fuelwood conservation in Rwanda†

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine how fast and slow cooking dry bean cultivars and novel cooking methods affected firewood use, cooking time, and cooked bean texture among 15 homesteads in southern Rwanda. Cooking was done on the homestead by the women of the household with a known quantity of firewood. ‘Calima’ and ‘Rubona 5’ were evaluated as pure lines and as components of market mixtures. The open wood fire cooking method was compared to cooking beans after soaking them overnight and cooking beans in a haybasket cooker. Results indicated that the use of the haybasket cooker and ‘Calima’ (fast‐cooking), significantly reduced fuelwood consumption and the amount of labor needed to prepare beans for eating. ‘Calima’ required 16% less firewood and 8% less time to cook than the slower cooking cultivar ‘Rubona 5’. The haybasket cooker used 40% less firewood than the traditional open fire cooking method.