Going global with local cluster beans

“And though my edges may be rough, And never feel I'm quite enough, It may not seem like very much, But I'm yours.”

As we bring harvesting some cluster beans, these lines from The Script's 2008 song "I'm yours" plays in our mind. These beans, guar as they are called, may not look especially attractive, but they can really make the world go around. Each line of that song applies.

The young green pods that we eat give us decent protein, little carbs and minimal fat. There's that Vitamin C too, that we are craving these days, and also high folic acid content that's good during pregnancy.

Mature pods are not eaten though. Seeds from them give us guar gum which has great emulsifying and binding properties. As a food thickening agent, it finds its way to ice-creams, cheese and even sauces. It's also used in paper and textile industries.

Most of it though, is used to crack open rocks on sea beds to let shale oil flow out. The US discovered some reserves, and was pumping a lot of oil out a few years ago, pushing guar prices up. That shook global oil markets, and politics followed. Shale production is down since, and guar prices are back lower.

For that brief period though, farmers in Rajasthan - the world's largest producer of guar - rejoiced. Some others also moved from growing cotton or wheat to guar. Most are back to cotton again.

Guar's love for Rajasthan is more permanent though. It is drought tolerant, sun-loving and a great nitrogen fixer. It can grow without fertilisers, and in the process rejuvenates the soil too. This season, how about cooking a few guar meals in honour of the crop.

It’s global, it’s local. It tells us, one can be both.