Starting the New Year by eating “lucky foods” is a tradition worldwide. While the food is noodles in China and roast suckling pig in Austria, lowly legumes are the star in many countries and regions. This isn’t surprising. Beans are justly praised for their nutritional value, and dried beans play a role in almost all the world’s cuisines. Beans are a good source of fiber and protein, and they are low in fat and contain no cholesterol. They are also a good source of B vitamins, especially B6.

Food historians have endless theories as to why beans and bounty have become synonymous. Many believe that it is because they resemble coins, and they grow as they are being cooked. The extension of that analogy is why many bean soups also contain something green; it’s the color of money.

In the South they begin the year with hoppin’ John, a black-eyed pea stew. Italians combine green lentils with sausages. My choice is this satiny soup made with white beans flavored with aromatic rosemary and salty prosciutto, and punctuated by bright spinach leaves. It gives you great aromatic riches as it simmers away, and then the complex flavor delivers.

You don’t have to wait until New Year’s Day to begin eating for luck. People in Spain and many Latin American countries eat twelve grapes at the stroke of midnight — one for each month of the year. The goal is to savor the flavor each one. If grape number six is a bit sour, watch out for June! It might not be a good month.

Cost-Buster Cooking Tips

Dried beans are less expensive than canned beans, you can flavor them as they cook, and they also are not loaded with the sodium that is added during the canning process. But if time is pressing, there is a basic arithmetic to dry and cooked beans: 1 pound of dried beans makes 5 to 6 cups of cooked beans, and 2/3 cup of dry beans, when cooked, is equal to the contents of 1 (15-ounce) can. Add the canned beans at the end of the cooking time because they’re already fully cooked.

While recipes mention soaking beans overnight, there’s nothing magical about the nocturnal hours. Six hours is about the top limit for the amount of time that beans will absorb room temperature water. So soak your beans on your way to work, and they’ll be ready to cook that night.

You’ll notice that there is a wide time range in the timing of cooking beans, and that’s because the addition of any acidic ingredient —– such as tomatoes or wine — causes beans to soften more slowly. Other factors enter the picture. If beans are a few years old, they’ll take longer to cook. Also, the minerals in your tap water can retard the softening and require a longer cooking time.

Pureed bean soups have a tendency to thicken from the starch in the beans once they are refrigerated. Thin the soups with additional stock or water when reheating them to reach the proper consistency.

An immersion blender, sometimes called a stick blender, is a great gizmo for pureeing food because it’s inserted into the pan. If using a food processor or beaker blender, never fill it more than half full with any hot mixture.

Ellen Brown, founding food editor of USA Today, is the author of 30 cookbooks, including the $3 Meals series. She lives in Providence. E-mail her at cost.buster.cooking@gmail.com.

Recipe: White Bean Soup with Rosemary and Spinach1

White Bean Soup with Rosemary and Spinach

3/4 pound dried cannellini or navy beans, rinsed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 carrot, sliced

1 celery rib, sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 pound prosciutto, thickly sliced and cut into thin slivers, divided

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary or 2 teaspoons dried

8 cups chicken stock or ham stock, preferably homemade

2 cups firmly packed stemmed fresh spinach leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Rinse the beans in a colander and place them in a mixing bowl covered with cold water. Allow the beans to soak for at least six hours, or overnight. Or place the beans in a saucepan and cover them with water; bring to a boil over high heat, and boil the beans for 1 minute. Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and soak the beans for 1 hour. With either soaking method, drain the beans, discard the soaking water, and begin cooking as soon as possible.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and two-thirds of the prosciutto. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add the beans, rosemary, and stock, and bring to a boil over low heat. Simmer, covered, for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until the beans are soft. Puree the mixture with an immersion blender, in a food processor fitted with the steel blade, or in a blender.

Return soup to the pan, and bring to a boil over low heat. Add the spinach leaves, and simmer for 2 minutes. Serve hot, garnishing each portion with the remaining prosciutto. Note: The soup can be made up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated, tightly covered.