They are fascinating to watch. When placed on a flat surface, the beans roll from side to side, twist at the ends, or jump as if they were alive. The show is so incredible that some people thought magic or spiritism might be involved. It is true? What do sauteed beans do?
It's just a certain kind of bouncing beans. These beans are the seeds of a Mexican shrub in the milkweed family. The bushes grow three to six feet tall and the seeds reach three per pod, each less than a third of an inch long. They have two flat sides and the third is convex, so they look a bit like three corners.
The shrubs that carry these seeds grow wild in the foothills and mountains near the small town of Álamos, in the southern Mexican state of Sonora. Residents have long known about the costumes and their unusual jumping abilities. Years ago, young people sold them to the few visitors to the area.
"An American founded Álamos in 1921," explains Joaquín Hernández, who was just a young man at the time. “Jumping beans fascinated him. He said he would buy all the grain he could supply so he could sell it to other Americans. I have all the children in the city who help me.
It was the beginning of a bean industry that today thrives in the region. “Everyone in Alamos is harvesting beans,” Hernández says. "If the person is lucky, they will earn up to 200 pesos (US $ 16) in one collection day." The beans are taken to the Hernández farm, where some 60 girls work to prepare them for transport. More than 30 million bouncy beans are harvested in a good year.
"There are only a few grains left in Mexico," Hernández explains. “Most Mexicans have never heard of fried beans. Only the people here know them and the people from the border cities who see them for sale. This is because most of the cereals are exported.
"I take half of the fried beans to the United States by train," says Hernández, who has a monopoly in the sector. "About 40% is transported by air to Europe, almost 10% to Japan and several thousand to cities on the border with Mexico."
A simple examination reveals the secret of the fascinating twist, turn and jump of the grains. Inside each bean is a small yellow caterpillar, the larva of a small moth. As it does? The butterfly lays an egg on the milkweed flower. Over time, the eggs hatch and the larvae find their way to the bottom of the flower, where they eventually get stuck in the seeds.
The caterpillar devours much of the inside of the seed, so it takes up about a fifth of the inside of your tiny house. To move the bean, the caterpillar grabs the silky side of the bean with its legs and vigorously strikes its body, striking its head on the other end of the bean and sending it to one side or the other. The bean can travel several inches at a time or jump through the air. Some people call them bronco beans because of the way they pop.
"We don't know why the worm inside is so agitated, but we are happy," says Hernández. “He is not trying to leave. We know for sure. If the bark breaks, the internal worm immediately goes to work, repairing it with a silky secretion. When you renovate your home, you jump back as hard as before.
A jumping bean can continue its antics for up to six months. So the caterpillar finally leaves its home and turns into a moth.
In June and July, the bean harvest takes place around Alamos. As soon as the beans are introduced, the girls count and beat each one individually. If it breaks, it means the caterpillar inside is dead and the beans have been thrown away. The grains need to breathe to survive, so they are placed in special perforated boxes for transport.
So it goes without saying that there is no magic or spiritualism associated with the antics of these bouncing beans. They are simply a characteristic of Jehovah God's wonderful creation that fascinates man.
Well written article