Beans

 

Legumes are known for their high protein content, but they also have high amounts of fiber and high amounts of other nutrients.  Legumes are cheap and legumes help improve the soil where they are grown.

There are two great all vegan bean recipe books:

1. 1. 1. “The Great Vegan Bean Book” by Kathy Hester
      2. “Fabulous Beans” by Barb Bloomfield

Legumes are done cooking when they are “al dente”, soft, like a baked potato ( except for soybeans and peanuts ).

What About Gas?

Legumes contain oligosaccharides, a type of carbohydrate that is hard to break down.  This can lead to gas.  The amount of gas experienced can be reduced.

Methods For Reducing Gas

1. 1. 1. Legume Choice
      2. Soaking
      3. Quick Boiling
      4. Pressure Cooking
      5. Miscellaneous Methods

Legume Choice

Not all legumes have the same amount of oligosaccharides. If you eat legumes with less oligosaccharides you will get less, if any gas.

Lower Oligosaccharide Legumes

1. 1. 1. 1. lentils
         2. mung beans
         3. black eyed peas
         4. split peas
         5. peanuts
         6. organic ( avoid GMO ) soy beans and soy foods.

Higher Oligosaccharide Legumes

1. 1. 1. 1. black beans
         2. kidney beans
         3. navy beans
         4. pinto beans
         5. chickpeas aka garbanzo beans

Soaking

Soaking legumes in water overnight reduces the amount of oligosaccharides in them, reducing the amount of gas.  Put 2 cups of dried legumes into 6 cups of water in a sealed container at room temperature overnight. You can make soaking even more effective by adding 2 teaspoons of baking soda to the water.  After soaking, discard the water the legumes soaked in and rinse the legumes off to wash away more oligosaccharides.

Quick Boiling

I’ve found “quick boiling” to be the most effective method for reducing gas. It isn’t necessary for and should not be used on legumes from the low oligosaccharide group. After soaking 1 part legumes with 3 parts water overnight, rinse off the legumes and change the water. Bring the legumes and the fresh change of water to a rolling boil for 1 minute. Then change the water again. Doing so will “boil out” more gas producing oligosaccharides. If you don’t eat legumes from the high oligosaccharide often, I would recommend repeating this at least 2 times before cooking the legumes. You will not lose a significant amount of nutrition. You will also notice much more comfort after eating the high oligosaccharide legumes prepared this way.

Pressure Cooking

A pressure cooker is a pot with a lid held on by a strong clamp. This allows pressure to build up inside of the pot making the temperature inside go higher than would be possible with a sauce pan. This results in food being cooked much more quickly….at a speed competitive with microwave ovens.

I’ve also found, through my personal experience, that pressure cooking will greatly reduce gas, especially if you also soak the legumes and do “quick boiling” as described above. If you can afford it, I would recommend getting a stainless steel pressure cooker.

In general you want to combine 2 cups of legumes with 6 cups of water in a pressure cooker.  One hour of conventional boiling time becomes 5 minutes of cooking under pressure + 10 minutes of resting time with the heat off.  You begin timing once the pressure indicator goes up.  Turn the heat to low.  Once the time is up turn off the heat and let the pressure cooker cool down naturally.  Doing so is good for the quality of the cooking and for making your pressure cooker last longer.  The legumes will continue to cook while the heat is off and the pressure indicator is still up.

• • • 1 minute – lentils
    • 5 minutes – aduki, black, pinto, kidney, navy, great northern beans
    • 13 minutes – chickpeas
    • 20 minutes – dried yellow soybeans

Miscellaneous Methods

Canned beans tend to be less gas producing.  The canning process reduces FODMAPs.   Canned beans can have all sorts of chemicals on them that you don’t want, so be sure to rinse canned beans well.

Alpha-galactosidase is an enzyme that will help your body break down oligosaccharides.  “Bean-zyme” is a brand that is free of animal products.  The brand “Beano” may or may not be free of animal products.  The instructions on “Bean-zyme” bottles say to chew the tablets with the first bite of your meal. I’ve found their product to be far more effective when I hold the tablet under my tongue until it starts to dissolve.

Kombu is a seaweed you can buy in dried strips. Kombu has an enzyme in it that breaks down oligosaccharides.  The recommendation is to use a 3 inch strip when soaking or cooking legumes.  I haven’t found using kombu to be effective, but it may work for you.

Time.  If you have not eaten legumes regularly every day your digestive system will need time to adapt to it.  Start off with limiting yourself to 1/2 cup of cooked legumes per day.  Over 3-6 weeks the amount of gas you experience will begin to reduce.  Once you are experiencing less gas add 1 tablespoon per week to the amount of legumes you eat every day.  Increase more slowly or more quickly depending on the results you experience.

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