The "Musical Fruit" haha :)

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:54 pm

Okay this is a tad embarrassing! But I wanted to ask people who cook with a lot of beans etc in their diet, if there's any good way to "de-gassify" them???
I just made a pot of lentils and barley, because I'm having a very tight week money-wise, but I have since become, the *loudest* tooter around!!
I read something a long time ago about needing to soak dried beans overnight and then dump the water before cooking them.
Can this be done with lentils too without ruining the flavour and killing the nutrients, or any beans for that matter?
I like being able to cook a batch of chili or whatever ahead of time cos it's so convenient to have it in the fridge and then rewarm as I need, but I would like to be less "musical"

Debs

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:16 pm

If you eat a lot of legumes, your body eventually adjusts and gets better at digesting them -- but in the meantime, Bean-O is your friend! It's a supplement with the enzymes your body naturally uses to break down the sugars in beans -- you can get a liquid you sprinkle on your food, or take a teeny tiny pill before you eat. It really works!

There are a bunch of cooking strategies to de-gas beans -- soak and discard the soaking water, parboil and discard THAT water, cook them with baking soda -- but I can't vouch for how well any of those work.

~reneew · Post by **~reneew** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:37 pm

I rinse and rinse dry beans, then soak over night and rinse and rinse, then cook and rinse some more. I have no problem. Others have, but say it's less than the canned beans. I think the natural way is just to keep rinsing and keep eating them, I think your body adjusts.

~hf · Post by **~hf** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:29 am

Good luck with this, hehe. I've never tried Bean-o so I'd be interested in your experience with it if you do.

I must say that even though we eat beans at least 3 times a week none of us have adjusted. We are the most musical family I have ever met!

I have a bunch a boys so they think they are the funniest things ever...tmi...one of our funniest family moments was about a month ago when we were all sitting down to dinner. I was trying to call my kids to attention so that I could make a serious announcement. So I said, "Ok, everyone be quiet I have something important to say." They all turned and looked at me, silent...just as I opened my mouth to speak, my 3yos let one loose super loud and proud. The timing was amazing and instantly everyone was reduced to hysterical tears...

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:55 am

becauseIcan wrote:I was trying to call my kids to attention so that I could make a serious announcement. So I said, "Ok, everyone be quiet I have something important to say." They all turned and looked at me, silent...just as I opened my mouth to speak, my 3yos let one loose super loud and proud. The timing was amazing and instantly everyone was reduced to hysterical tears...

LOL!!!!!

Excellent!!!!

Thanks guys for all your suggestions.
I will seek out Beano and try the rinsing too.. I didn't try rinsing or soaking because I thought it would make them lose their flavour..

Debs

marleah · Post by **marleah** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:09 pm

You CAN soak the lentils, but I don't think you would want to soak them overnight - maybe just for 20-30 minutes. They will cook faster that way, but if you soak them longer they will probably just get mushy.

Being vegan, we eat a TON of beans. My husband has always been quite a gassy fellow, so to speak, but this was even before we were vegetarian, let alone vegan. Now that we are eating beans at usually 1, sometimes 2 meals a day, he is not any gassier really than before. I think this is because your body does adjust to it, it just takes some time. It's similar to when you increase the fiber in your diet - it can sometimes cause some digestive issues, but you do get used to it as your body adjusts and then you don't have any problems. It's the same with beans.

I have heard that when you cook with beans, if you add cilantro to it (pretty easy to do when you are fixing a Mexican-style dish), it can help reduce gassiness. It works basically like a natural Beano and it tastes great too!

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:36 pm

Thanks Marleah

I love cilantro, so that will be a nice thing to try.. Maybe even chopping some up and sprinkling it on as a garnish without cooking it might be good, like with salsa..
Nice suggestion thanks!

Debs

StrawberryRoan · Post by **StrawberryRoan** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:35 pm

I have never really had this problem, my husband uses Beano with success. I agree that the more one eats this type of food (I do often) the more their body adjusts.

They used to say to soak overnight and rinse, etc. etc. but the new packaging says to cover beans with water, bring to a boil, cool and then rinse and cook with fresh water. Something about soaking too long causing fermentation if I remember correctly. However, I know of noone who ever died of bean soaking fermentation so I think we're all safe.

I also have found that the canned beans do not cause this problem, maybe something with the processing heat, I dunno.

Eat up, beans and legumes are GREAT for you.

SR

navin · Post by **navin** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 1:15 am

Or you could handle this from the other end (pun intended) with something like this:

http://www.flat-d.com/flatdpremium.html

la_loser · Post by **la_loser** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 1:20 am

OMG--I guess it's a supply and demand thing. . . did you see that they have disposable AND reusable ones! Yikes!

That's hysterical!

Bushranger · Post by **Bushranger** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 2:03 am

My wife and I eat beans fairly regularly. We often make a stew with a mix of different dry beans and vegetables and spices.

The soaking of beans is basically just to start the rehydration process. The idea is to make cooking time shorter. Our experience is that it does not make cooking time that much shorter as we prefer them very soft.

Cold soak - Traditional method, was used to save on expensive cooking fuel (wood etc). Beans would be covered with water and left to stand in cool dry place for approx 12 hours. We always do this method and I change the water 2 or 3 times throughout. You can see it turning grey and milky as it washes some rubbish off the beans. I also skim the floaters (mostly shells that came off) off the surface. It is often suggested that the water changing colour is proof of the beans being "de-gassed". Supposedly the soaking helps remove complex sugars, which is what makes them "musical". The jury seems to be still out on this one though and people argue for and against the validity of this idea.

Hot soak - More modern method of soaking. You hard boil the beans for 3 minutes then cover them with a lid and stand for 4 to 24 hours. We have not done this method yet so I cannot vouch for its effectiveness. I will try it sometime soon though as it supposedly produces more tender beans. BUT a few people insist the cooling down makes certain varieties rock hard.

No soaking - A lot of mexican recipies don't soak the beans at all. There are some quite well known chefs who won't soak beans either now apparently.

Regardless of what you choose to do ALWAYS pick through your dry beans for duds and wash them to get the agricultural dust and rubbish off them.

davestarbuck · Post by **davestarbuck** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:03 am

I can't resist....

Pull my finger!!!!!!!

Juvenile I know....

-Dave

Blithe Morning · Post by **Blithe Morning** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 2:21 pm

I am trying to find a good chili gravy recipe for pinto beans.

I put my pintos (washed and picked over but not soaked) in the slow cooker/crockpot in the morning when I leave for work and so by the time I come home they are done. Too done as they are a little too soft for us, probably perfect for Mr & Mrs Bushranger. I need to futz with the cooking time, I think.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:12 pm

Blithe Morning wrote:I am trying to find a good chili gravy recipe for pinto beans.

I put my pintos (washed and picked over but not soaked) in the slow cooker/crockpot in the morning when I leave for work and so by the time I come home they are done. Too done as they are a little too soft for us, probably perfect for Mr & Mrs Bushranger. I need to futz with the cooking time, I think.

k

Do you cook them on high or low? I cook my beans in the slow cooker for 4 hours on high. If I were going to leave them cook all day I'd definitely put them on low.

Blithe Morning · Post by **Blithe Morning** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 1:10 pm

I put them on low. Let's see... I put them on at 7AMish and usually they get turned off around 5PMish. I wonder if I should use a timer that would turn them off at 4 or maybe even 3. 8 hours is probably enough for cooking on low?

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 7:42 pm

Blithe Morning wrote:I put them on low. Let's see... I put them on at 7AMish and usually they get turned off around 5PMish. I wonder if I should use a timer that would turn them off at 4 or maybe even 3. 8 hours is probably enough for cooking on low?

I would think that 6-8 hours would be enough on low. Here's the "recipe" I use and I've done black beans, pinto beans, cannellini beans, Great Northern beans, chickpeas, and a bean soup mix -- all have turned out great:

CREAMY SLOW-COOKER BEANS Introduce your family to the nothing-like-canned taste of home-cooked dried beans. Just stir eight ounces of rinsed dried black (or navy or red kidney) beans, a chopped white onion, a tablespoon of bacon fat or butter with five cups hot water in a slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours until the beans are cooked, stirring occasionally. Add salt to taste, reduce heat to keep warm til ready to serve, adding water if needed.

From here: http://kitchenparade.com/2008/02/pork-p ... y-slow.php

Blithe Morning · Post by **Blithe Morning** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 12:31 am

wosnes wrote:
CREAMY SLOW-COOKER BEANS Introduce your family to the nothing-like-canned taste of home-cooked dried beans. Just stir eight ounces of rinsed dried black (or navy or red kidney) beans, a chopped white onion, a tablespoon of bacon fat or butter with five cups hot water in a slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours until the beans are cooked, stirring occasionally. Add salt to taste, reduce heat to keep warm til ready to serve, adding water if needed.

From here: http://kitchenparade.com/2008/02/pork-p ... y-slow.php

Thank you, Wosnes. This looks great. I'm assuming that's 8oz by volume and not weight?

I'm going to try again this Friday for taco night. Frijoles caseros!

Blithe Morning · Post by **Blithe Morning** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 6:49 pm

The beans came out very well. The best I've made yet, especially as I've figured out the seasoning for taco beans:
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic salt
2 Tablespoons tomato paste

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:18 am

Blithe Morning wrote:
Thank you, Wosnes. This looks great. I'm assuming that's 8oz by volume and not weight?

Sorry for the delay...I just noticed this. It's actually 8 ounces by weight. Obviously 8 ounces by weight is half a pound and by volume it's a heaping cup.

Everyday Systems

The "Musical Fruit" haha :)

The "Musical Fruit" haha :)

OMG!