Here is all of the information from the bean class that I had put together.
Why eat beans??
Beans are very nutritious.
•They are high in fiber. ½ cup has 25-30% RDV of fiber.
•High in protein – ½ cup has 6-7 grams of protein and costs only 20 cents.
•High in vitamins – thiamin, folate, vitamin B6, and niacin.
•High in nutrients like calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, and manganese.
•Can help lower cholesterol,
•Can prevent spikes in blood sugar
•The soluble fiber in beans can help reduce the risk of heart problems.
•High in antioxidants – particularly black beans.
•Beans are high in lysine but low in methionine. Grains are low in lysine but high in metionine and sulfur amino acids. When eaten together they complement each other and provide an excellent source of protein.
Reducing Gas
It is a fact, beans can and do cause gas for many people because our digestive enzymes are not able to break down the raffinose sugars contained in beans. Here are some ideas for reducing the not so pleasant effects of beans.
•Sprout the beans first.
•Include them slowly in your diet to help increase tolerance.
•Use Beano.
•Discard the soaking water.
•Use bean flours to gradually introduce beans and increase tolerance.
•I have read that you can use epazote, kombu seaweed, vinegar, or baking soda in the water to help, but have not personally tried any of these. I have seen epazote and kombu in books, saw all 4 mentioned online today. Vinegar did warn about it making the beans stay hard. I’m no expert here. Really they don’t cause me any problems.
Ways to cook beans
•Soak first – Then rinse, drain, and simmer for the amount of time listed in chart on page 2. Choose 1 of the following soaking methods
•Soak overnight
•Soak 24 hours /begin and/or begin to sprout
• quick soak by boiling for 2 minutes then let soak covered for 1 hour.
•Avoid the soak completely and just cook them extra time – For example black beans take about 2 ½ hours to cook from dry. I have tried this and it works fine.
•Cook in a jar – discussed at class. Basically cook in side a canning jar in a canning pot in a water bath. Takes about 2 ½ hours but you can cook multiple jars/variety of beans at a time.
•Slow cooker –approximately 6-7 hours on high, or 12-13 on low
•Pressure cooker - sorry, not an expert here.
•Boiling water over bean powder – Nearly instant mashed beans.
•Bring 1 cup water to a boil, whisk in 1 cup bean flour and 1 cup cool water. Cook and stir for 1 minute. Season as desired. Or use as a oil replacement in recipes.
Other ways to incorporate beans
•Grind dry beans into flour either in a grain grinder, or a good blender if you have one. Use in place of up to ¼ of the white or wheat flour in baked goods. I usually go somewhere between 1/8. If something has 3 cups flour, I’ll use ½ cup bean flour and 2 ½ cups regular flour. I will warn you, this changes the taste of the dough, and I don’t like the dough, but once cooked, the item tastes normal. Can’t tell the beans are there.
•Make bean purees by pureeing cooked beans with a little bit of water. Use the puree to replace oil in recipes. (I don’t do this as much and haven’t done it lately, but I have tried it in the past and it does work.)
•Use as a meat extender or replacement. For example add beans to taco meat to make it go further. I’ve even made a sloppy joe type dish with baked beans.
•Toss cooked beans into a salad
Bean cooking/sprouting chart
| Bean | # cups of water per cup of beans | Overnight soak? | Cooking time (simmer) | sproutable |
| Adzuki | 3 | No | 90 min | Yes (w & S) |
| Anasazi | 4 | Yes | 90 min | Yes (w) |
| Black Eye Pea | 4 | Yes | 1 hr 15 min | Yes (w) |
| Black bean | 3 | Yes | 90 min | Yes (w&S)** |
| Cranberry | 3 | Yes | 1 hr 15 min | Yes (w) |
| Canelli | 3 | Yes | 90 min | |
| Fava | 4 | Yes + peel skins | 3 hours | |
| Garbanzo | 4 | Yes | 3 hours | Yes (W &S) |
| Great Northern | 3 | Yes | 2 hours | |
| Kidney | 4 | Yes | 90 min | |
| Lentils | 2 | No | 25-45 min | Yes (W&S) |
| Lima | 2 | Yes | 60-90 | |
| Mung | 4 | No | 1 hr 15 min | Yes (W&S) |
| Navy | 4 | Yes | 2 ½ hrs | |
| Pinto | 4 | Yes | 2 hrs | Yes (S) ** |
| Red | 4 | Yes | 2 hrs | |
| Soy | 3 | Yes in fridge | 3-4 hours | Yes but hard ** |
Most of this information comes from a book called A Word of Wisdom by Amy Cox Jones. (referred to in the chart as W)
Another book I have and like called 366 Delicious ways to cook rice, beans, and grains gives cooking times at about half the ones listed. If find the ones above to be a bit more accurate.
For additional information on sprouting, sproutpeople.com is an excellent resource. (referred to in the chart as S) ** - sprout people advises cooking the sprouts before eating for better digestion.
Bean nutritional value charts can be found here http://www.dietbites.com/Diet-2/beans-calories-nutrition-info.html or here http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/legumes-nutrition-chart.html
These are the recipes I shared
Gluten free chocolate cake (made with garbanzo beans)
Sweet pineapple and red beans (just the beans and rice, not the bundle)
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