Soaking is not enough: another basic cooking question

[cjsmith]

I've heard of two ways to break down the oligosaccharides (*toot*!) in beans and legumes.

- Soak overnight, then drain and rinse thoroughly
- Boil for a while, then drain and rinse thoroughly

The recipe I made yesterday actually called for BOTH of these. I did them both. They were not enough.

I am willing to believe I simply don't know what I'm doing, but I also know that there are certain explanations I am no longer going to accept because I've tried them and they don't work. Never in my forty years have I succeeded in eating beans or legumes without trouble. Anyone who says that I'll "get used to" (as in: no longer produce gas after eating) certain things is just plain wrong. Anyone who says that soaking or pre-boiling is sufficient is also just plain wrong.

I realize that I may be somewhat unusual. I have a coworker who can't eat certain kinds of beans at all, as her inability to digest certain compounds will send her to the hospital. I might simply be someone who will always have trouble with this stuff.

What else do I need to do? Is there a big step I'm missing here? Or should I, as I have on several previous occasions been close to deciding, simply give up on this kind of food?

Comments

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

I will try to research it more, but two things come to mind immediately.

First, BEANO. If beans are of trouble to you in any way, BEANO. And use it every time.

Second, I don't know how many beans you are eating at one time. If it's troubling at all, start with tiny tiny tiny portions and ramp up later. Learn from what I did - I once ate an entire one pound package of soymeat in one day. The rest of the night was... indescribable. I wanted an air mask for myself.

You may want to go to tiny tiny portions and try One Bean at A Time, to see what the deal is. I found that challenging my body with a shitton of them at once was Not Good.

I can try and research this more, because I'm curious myself. The answers may be complicated tho, I have a feeling that it depends on when where and how each bean was grown and harvested and processed. We may end up with a Bean Protocol that is way overengineered beyond what is necessary in most cases for you just to make sure you don't have bean problems ever again. Hell, I'd work with that myself!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Using Beano seems to make a small dent in the problem. It's as if I also need some enzyme Beano doesn't have.

I had a bowl of my bean soup. I'd say the bowl was half liquid, a quarter beans, and a quarter veggies. Northern beans, this time; other times it's been lentils. Interestingly enough, I don't seem to have this problem with some soy-based things, such as tofu; that may or may not give some clue to what is going on.