Beans and gas

lissetetiff

lissetetiff

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8 Jun 2015
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Is there a cooking method or a spice that helps reduce the gas and acidi effect produced by consuming beans? I love eating beans but they always leave my stomach feeling uncomfortably gassed up.
Any advice from my felow cooking lovers will be appreciated.
 
Yes, you need to soak beans overnight in warm water, drain all that water and rinse until you aren't getting any more scum on the water. The scum is the substance that causes the gas. Then you just but the beans in your slow cooker with fresh water and cook all day and they are ready. You will not only have less gas, you will be able to absorb more nutrients if beans are soaked and rinsed well.
 
Thankyou DancingLady. I will soak some beans tonight and cook them tomorrow as per your advice. I have struggled with the gas issue for long and Im glad I can finally get to enjoy my beans!
 
There is a herb called Savoury which is excellent at reducing the gas with beans and pulses. It is well worth finding if you can. I know a few UK websites that sell it, and I am trying to grow it this year to see if I can. There are 2 varieties, summer savoury which is an annual and the most likely version of the dried herb (and very tasty it is) and winter savoury which is a shrub and a perennial as I understand, I am also trying to grow this as well. It is not a well known herb in the western world for some reason, but in the middle east and central asia it is used a lot in cooking for that very reason - reducing gas and I can say it does work and it tastes very nice.
 
Perhaps (see SatNavSaysStraightOn's thread in Lounge) you shouldn't try to avoid it! Apparently, the gas is caused by Oligosaccharides and the gas produced is not 'fetid'. If the gas you produce is smelly, its not beans causing the odour.

"Oligosaccharides are basically sugar molecules that are made up of several different types of monosaccarides (usually 2-10) to form a polymer. An enzyme that would break these molecules down does not exist anywhere inside the human body. Therefore, when they passed into the large intestine, they serve as food for the countless microbes present. This is important for our health as these bacteria are necessary for creating different vitamins that get absorbed into the body as well as for the production of antibodies that help fight off certain types of infections."

DancingLady is right though, soaking and rinsing reduces the amount of Oligosaccharides, although the scum, as far as I know, is not Oligosaccharides but Protein (much the same as sometimes occurs when you simmer meat.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
There is a herb called Savoury which is excellent at reducing the gas with beans and pulses. It is well worth finding if you can. I know a few UK websites that sell it, and I am trying to grow it this year to see if I can. There are 2 varieties, summer savoury which is an annual and the most likely version of the dried herb (and very tasty it is) and winter savoury which is a shrub and a perennial as I understand, I am also trying to grow this as well. It is not a well known herb in the western world for some reason, but in the middle east and central asia it is used a lot in cooking for that very reason - reducing gas and I can say it does work and it tastes very nice.
Click to expand...
This be the one http://www.iherb.org/117-2/2015-savory/
 
I don't always soak my beans but I will now soak my beans to avoid the increased amount of gas. I didn't know the soaking helped the gas, I thought it was to help the beans cook faster.
 
Pat said:
I don't always soak my beans but I will now soak my beans to avoid the increased amount of gas. I didn't know the soaking helped the gas, I thought it was to help the beans cook faster.
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Yes, It helps them cook faster too.
 
My MIL sprinkles a product called "Beano" over all her food to prevent gas. It is odorless and tasteless so it doesn't change the taste of the food. I was a bit insulted the first time I saw her whip out her little bottle of Beano and dump it on the food I had cooked. There weren't even any beans in the food. But I got used to seeing her do it. She takes her Beano everywhere. She swears by it, but I've never used it myself.
 
Dianemwj said:
My MIL sprinkles a product called "Beano" over all her food to prevent gas. It is odorless and tasteless so it doesn't change the taste of the food. I was a bit insulted the first time I saw her whip out her little bottle of Beano and dump it on the food I had cooked. There weren't even any beans in the food. But I got used to seeing her do it. She takes her Beano everywhere. She swears by it, but I've never used it myself.
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I've heard about this 'Beano' but not sure what's in it. Will have to google now.... this is not good at this time of night.
 
Dianemwj said:
My MIL sprinkles a product called "Beano" over all her food to prevent gas. It is odorless and tasteless so it doesn't change the taste of the food. I was a bit insulted the first time I saw her whip out her little bottle of Beano and dump it on the food I had cooked. There weren't even any beans in the food. But I got used to seeing her do it. She takes her Beano everywhere. She swears by it, but I've never used it myself.
Click to expand...

It comes in pill form as well, and it does work. I believe it's enzymes, if I remember correctly.

It's not just for beans, despite the name. Many vegetables can create gas, like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, raw onion, broccoli, cauliflower, and many others as well as other foods (especially as we get older).
 
I sometimes wonder whenever I would read about beans producing gas. One of our favorite dishes is chili beans more popularly called chili con carne of the Mexicans. My husband has gastritis but the red beans in that chili dish does not create gas in his tummy. Maybe it is in the process of cooking. After washing the beans, we would soak it in water for at least 30 minutes to make it soft before cooking in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes. That's it, nice and easy, no gas.
 
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