Bran is the hard outer layer of grain and consists of combined aleurone and pericarp. Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, and is often produced as a by-product of milling in the production of refined grains. When bran is removed from grains, the latter lose a portion of their nutritional value. Bran is present in and may be milled from any cereal grain, including rice, corn, wheat, maize, oats, barley, and millet. It should not be confused with chaff, which is coarser scaly material surrounding the grain, but not forming part of the grain itself. Bran is particularly rich in dietary fibre and omegas and contains significant quantities of starch, protein, vitamins, and dietary minerals.

The Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seed. The Brazil nut tree is the only species in the monotypic genus Bertholletia. It is native to the Guianas, Venezuela, Brazil, eastern Colombia, eastern Peru and eastern Bolivia. It occurs as scattered trees in large forests on the banks of the Amazon, Rio Negro, and the Orinoco. The genus is named after the French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet.

The name "buckwheat" or "beech wheat" comes from its triangular seeds, which resemble the much larger seeds of the beech nut from the beech tree, and the fact that it is used like wheat. The word is a partial translation of Middle Dutch boecweite. Buckwheat refers to plants in two genera of the dicot family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, and the North American genus Eriogonum. The crop plant, common buckwheat, is Fagopyrum esculentum. Despite the common name and the grain-like use of the crop, buckwheat is not a cereal or grass. It is called a pseudocereal to emphasise that it is not related to wheat. Buckwheat contains rutin, a medicinal chemical that strengthens capillary walls, reducing hemorrhaging in people with high blood pressure and increasing microcirculation in people with chronic venous insufficiency. Dried buckwheat leaves for tea were manufactured in Europe under the brand name "Fagorutin." Buckwheat contains D-chiro-inositol, a component of the secondary messenger pathway for insulin signal transduction found to be deficient in Type 2 diabetes and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). It is being studied for use in treating type 2 diabetes. Research on D-chiro-inositol and PCOS has shown promising results.

Bulgur for human consumption is usually sold parboiled, dried and de-branned. Bulgur is sometimes confused with cracked wheat, which is crushed wheat grain that has not been parboiled. Although traditionally de-branned, wholegrain, high fibre bulgur and cracked wheat can be found in natural food stores. Bulgur is a common ingredient in Turkish, Middle Eastern, Indian and Mediterranean dishes. It has a light, nutty flavour. Bulgur can be used in pilafs, soups, bakery goods, or as stuffing. It is also a main ingredient in tabbouleh salad and kibbeh. Its high nutritional value makes it a good substitute for rice or couscous. In Indian cuisine, bulgur is also used as a cereal with milk and sugar.

Phaseolus lunatus is a legume. It is grown for its seed, which is eaten as a vegetable. It is commonly known as the lima bean or butter bean; it is also known as Haba bean, Pallar bean, Burma bean, Guffin bean, Hibbert bean, Sieva bean, Rangoon bean, Madagascar bean, Paiga, Paigya, prolific bean, civet bean, sugar bean or dau ngu (Vietnamese). Raw lima beans and butter beans contain linamarin, a cyanogenic glucoside. The beans are rendered safe when cooked. Low-linamarin varieties are typically used for culinary purposes, as it is possible for one handful of raw beans to make a person violently ill.

The Cannelini bean (or navy bean), Phaseolus vulgaris, is an herbaceous annual plant domesticated independently in ancient Mesoamerica and the Andes, and now grown worldwide for its edible bean, popular both dry and as a green bean. The leaf is occasionally used as a leaf vegetable, and the straw is used for fodder. Botanically, the common bean is classified as a dicotyledon. Beans, squash and maize constituted the "Three Sisters" that provided the foundation of Native American agriculture. Beans are a legume and thus acquire their nitrogen through an association with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. These beans are low-fat, high in fibre and provide a high quality of magnesium, fibre, iron and folate. They have twice as much iron as beef. Maintaining iron stores high ensures a stable supply of haemoglobin.

The cashew (Anacardium occidentale; syn. Anacardium curatellifolium A.St.-Hil.) is a tree in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The plant is native to northeastern Brazil. It is a small evergreen tree growing to 10 to 12m tall, with a short, often irregularly shaped trunk. The leaves are spirally arranged, leathery textured, elliptic-obovate, 4-22cm long and 2-15cm broad, with a smooth margin. The flowers are produced in a panicle or corymb up to 26cm long, each flower small, pale green at first then turning reddish, with five slender, acute petals 7-15mm long. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, "acaju" -not, as previously thought, "agadoo". The caashew tree is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew "nuts" and "apples". What appears to be the fruit of the cashew tree is an oval or pear-shaped accessory fruit or false fruit that develops from the receptacle of the cashew flower. This is called the cashew apple, better known in Central America as "jocote de maranon", it ripens into a yellow and/or red structure about 5-11cm long. It is edible, and has a strong "sweet" smell and a sweet taste. The pulp of the cashew apple is very juicy, but the skin is fragile, making it unsuitable for transport. It is often used as a flavour in agua fresca. The true fruit of the cashew tree is a kidney or boxing-glove shaped drupe that grows at the end of the pseudofruit. The drupe develops first on the tree, and then the peduncle expands into the pseudofruit. Within the true fruit is a single seed, the cashew nut. Although a nut in the culinary sense, in the botanical sense the fruit of the cashew is a seed. The seed is surrounded by a double shell containing a dermatogenic phenolic resin, urushiol, a potent skin irritant toxin also found in the related poison ivy. Some people are allergic to cashew nuts, but cashews are a less frequent allergen than nuts or peanuts