Beans: Preparation

1. Sort

A few stones inevitably seem to end up amongst dried beans, especially smaller ones like black turtle beans, so we tend to spread them on a cookie sheet, one bean deep, and give them a visual once-over for stones under a bright light. (Some notable restaurant chefs offer their kitchen staff $5 per stone removed from beans before cooking. Your kids may work for less.)

2. Rinse

Whether dried or canned, beans should be rinsed as a first step. Discarding the liquid from canned beans is important, since it has leached many of the toxins from the beans while sitting on the shelf, and also represents hidden sodium.

3. Soak

Pre-soaking dried beans rehydrates and softens them, reducing cooking time. It also leaches out many of the aforementioned toxins, including some of those noxious oligosaccharides.

There are several tricks to enhance the detoxifying and softening effects of the soak, and using a combination of them will yield the best results. Simply soaking some types of beans may be enough, but since flatulence is not a winning trait, we offer these suggestions to enhance your soak:

Repetition

Two soaks are better than one. Discard the water each time.

Hot water

Pour recently-boiled water over the beans, and wrap the container in a cloth. Or, use an insulated container like a soup thermos – just remember to leave room for the beans to expand to several times their original size.

Soft water

Facilitates both rehydration and leaching of toxins. Use it if you’ve got it. Rainwater catchment is ideal. Well water is the hardest and should be avoided if at all possible.

pH optimization

Add a dash of baking soda to the soaking water for most beans. For black turtle beans, lentils, and fava beans, go the other direction, and add a 1/2 cup of lemon juice, vinegar, or whey to the soaking water.

Kombu

Katherine Czapp writes:

Another trick to cooking beans and minimizing those troublesome oligosaccharides is to add a 4-to-6-inch strip of the sea vegetable kombu (Laminaria of various species, a member of the kelp family) to the bean pot during the warmed soak period. Kombu helps alkalinize the water, and also contains alpha-galactosidase, the enzyme needed for digesting these complex sugars, and therefore enhances that process in the pot. I like to add even more kombu during the slow cooking period, as it lends a delicious, meaty flavor to the beans (not at all fishy) and is mineral-rich, with additional B vitamins and trace elements, as well as a digestion-soothing gel that literally melts into the bean sauce.

Dried kombu strips are available at Asian grocery stores and online. It stores indefinitely at room temperature if kept in a dry, dark place, and ages like a fine wine. It’s usually sold sealed in plastic with a moisture absorber, and will keep for a very long time if unopened.

Sprouting

Many beans can be sprouted before cooking, which enhances all of the healthful effects we’re trying to achieve. Lentils and chick peas are reported to sprout particularly well. Do not eat sprouted kidney beans without thoroughly cooking them first.