Description Wax Bush Bean, Brittlewax Bean cultivation can be traced to the earliest vestiges of human civilization. Beans may have been the first vegetables that mankind learned to cultivate. Fava beans have been found in Neolithic excavations in Switzerland. Chickpeas, favas and lentils have been found in Egyptian tombs, and the Chinese started growing soybeans around 1500 BC. However, many of the beans that we are familiar with today, like the common or kidney, lima and runner bean came from the Americas and were not introduced into Europe until the time of Christopher Columbus. The oldest archaeological evidence of common beans in the New World comes from Tehuacan, Mexico and has been radiocarbon dated to 7000 BC. Yellow Wax Beans are so called because their pods are light to bright yellow and the original wax beans had a waxy texture. Most of the beans are gray to black. Yellow wax beans originated in South and Central America. Wax beans can be eaten fresh or steamed like snap beans, or they can be dried. The beans grow on bushes 12-18 inches high.
