Dried Beans

Curiosity got the better of me and I don't ever have a problem admitting when I'm wrong. I did some digging and found this info...

The syndrome is usually caused by the ingestion of raw, soaked kidney beans, either alone or in salads or casseroles. As few as four or five raw beans can trigger symptoms. Several outbreaks have been associated with "slow cookers" or crock pots, or in casseroles which had not reached a high enough internal temperature to destroy the glycoprotein lectin. It has been shown that heating to 80°C may potentiate the toxicity five-fold, so that these beans are more toxic than if eaten raw. In studies of casseroles cooked in slow cookers, internal temperatures often did not exceed 75°C.

from http://www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/foodborneillness/foodborneillnessfoodbornepathogensnaturaltoxins/badbugbook/ucm071092.htm#disease

I do think that it makes the case (again) that proper food prep and cooking procedures make a world of difference in our health. Red beans and rice are a staple in La. I boil the tar out of them and therefore, have never had a problem.

Eta: Nigel and DPernet, thank you for bringing this up. I, honestly, had never heard of this before.

I like cooking them in a pressure cooker. They come out nice and soft with a creamy texture. Plus it takes less than half of the usual cooking time. I got a cooker on sale this year for $25. So worth it!!!

Bump. I didn't know all of this about beans! Thank goodness I decided to read this before cooking them myself.

We use dried beans in meals several times a week. Typically, I just rinse them, sort out the baddies and foreign objects and then put them in the crockpot, usually overnight and part of the next day, until they get as mushy as I like them. If I'm in a real hurry, I throw them in the pressure cooker. I make a bunch at a time and freeze the extras in approx 2 cup servings.

These days, I don't pre-soak, rinse, or anything like that. I know that it's supposedly better if you do, but I also know that I never plan that well, that I'm busy and that I'm lazy and that I will skip steps in a lot of recipes. And I used to have a habit of leaving the beans soaking so long that they sprouted before I remembered them. I've also got a few pots that are forever blackened on the bottom because I let beans boil dry on the stove. I'm pitiful, I know, lol, but that's why the above method works for me.

i buy the mixed medley, i have them every single day!

Beans? Toxic? Wow. I've been making chili with ground turkey and kidney beans. I brown the turkey, throw it in the crockpot, add a jar of hot salsa, rinse a bag of dried kidney beans and throw 'em in, cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8-ish. Other than the beans being a little bit al dente (lol), I've never had a problem! I guess I'll boil them from now on ... just in case!

I've never had problems either but I thought the statement was way too out there to not look it up. I was surprised...