Beans cause flatulence, it's well known. But did you know that you can reduce this effect by watering beans? Find out why this is the case and how to properly soak your beans below.
How and why should you water beans?
Soaking beans reduces their cooking time and removes gas-causing substances. To properly soak beans, they must be washed thoroughly, soaked in water overnight, and then rinsed before they can be cooked.
Why should you water the beans
Dried beans are very hard and take a long time to cook until soft. This is also one of the reasons why beans should be watered: the cooking time is reduced by at least half. But there are other reasons for watering: Beans contain substances that we cannot digest, such as the carbohydrate galactose. Since these substances are intolerable to us, they cause flatulence. When soaking, these substances are dissolved and transferred into the water. This makes the beans easier for us to digest and doesn't put us in embarrassing situations.
How to properly soak your beans
So that watering has all its positive effects, you should proceed as follows:
- Wash your beans thoroughly
- Put the beans in a sufficiently large pot (at least four times the area occupied by the beans) and fill the pot with twice as much water
- Soak the beans overnight
- The next morning, drain the water and rinse the beans under running water to remove any residue
- Now you can cook and prepare your beans as desired
A delicious recipe for a vegetarian bean stew
You need:
- 200g dried white beans
- 400g cooked, peeled tomatoes
- 1 tsp tomato paste
- 100g leek
- 200g carrots
- 5 stalks of celery
- 1, 2l vegetable broth
- 200ml red wine
- Olive oil
- garlic
- S alt
- Pepper
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- Chili pepper
Then proceed as follows:
- Soak the beans overnight as described above and rinse well
- Sauté one to three cloves of garlic (depending on taste) with enough olive oil and the chili pepper
- Add the tomato paste, red wine and the vegetable stock as well as the beans and let it cook for an hour and a half
- Then add the chopped vegetables and spices and let the stew cook for another half hour.
- Ten minutes before the end of the cooking time, you can optionally add 100g of pasta or serve the stew with bread.
Tip
Even if you don't want to eat the beans but rather sow them, it is advisable to soak them before sowing them. This increases germination.
