More than just a musical fruit, beans are also a great source of inspiration because of their widely varying colors. Commonly referring to the seeds of plants in the Fabaceae (formely Leguminosae) family, but also the developed pods or plants, beans are part of a family that includes 730 genera and over 19,400 species. Today, we look to those tasty seeds for palette and color inspiration. And, if you're trying to come up with a new recipe for a 20 or so bean soup, click on the images to learn more about many of the beans.

Cannelini beans

Black Gram Bean

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