Question for Pedata about beans...

[mountain_mama]

Pedata,
I saw your post on vegan + dad = clash. I live in the mountains and cook my beans in a pressure cooker or else I can cook all day long and end up with hard little rocks for beans (it's happened :o ). I cook my beans for two hours and always soak em' overnight before hand. I had never thought about the pressure cooker reducing nutrients until I read your post. EEEK! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

With Thanks,
Virginia
AKA
mountain_mama

[nappydread]

yay!...
...Don't use canned beans, they are generally pressure cooked. This is not good. Legumes contain an acid that will block your iron intake. The only way to destroy the acid is slow long soaking and slow long cooking....
...yes this freaked me out too :eek: :eek:
...how slow???...how long???
any advice would satisfy our curiosity:D

peace

[Pedata]

Mama, ok, I know you have less oxygen up there so things take longer to cook, but I've never heard of it hardening beans. Are you adding salt before or in the beginning of cooking? That can make them stay hard and eventually kind of break into pieces. If you are adding salt wait until the end of cooking. Your pressure cooker is not reducing nutrients, it's allowing the phytate (acid) in the beans to exist, instead of being destroyed. That's what causes iron intake to be blocked. Two hours in the pressure cooker? Wow. I don't know about that, but I'll find out. That fact that you soak them is good. Let me go dig through my papers.....

Beans:

Soak them overnight, that's plenty long enough. don't forget to rinse them through at least three changes of water, to remove dust. Oh, and don't forget to sort for rocks :eek: The next day drain the liquid and add fresh (cold). You want about three times water to the beans. When cooking keep the burner down as low as possible. You want just a few bubbles breaking at a time. If your burner, on low, is cooking them too fast you can take one of those rings for woks and put the pot on it to elevate it. Or you can put empty tin cans around it and put the pot on top. Be careful :eek: Many beans bags will tell you to bring them to a boil for 15 minutes. That's called the fast-cook method. Don't do that.

Also, if you have to add more water, first heat the water to be added and try to get it close to the bean water temperature. Mix while you add. I've always been taught to do it this way. Supposedly a sudden water temp change can make them get hard, depending on how far along the cooking is.

Different beans cook at different rates. Pintos cook the fastest. Black the slowest.

Some other iron facts: If you are eating an iron rich food have it with a citrus fruit, or lemonade, anything acidy. That acid helps the iron get into your system.

If you drink coffee wait about 30 minutes after eating to drink it. Coffee right after a meal will block the iron.

And a random fact about milk, just because I happen to be thinking of it :) (nothing to do with iron). The calcium in milk does not get into your system very well if it's taken with other food. So if you want that calcium from milk, drink it alone. Right before bed is a good time.

Peace,
Cassandra

[mountain_mama]

WOW :D you are now crowned the bean queen :D I am so impressed!

I have been doing two hours in the cooker because my pinto beans will come out so soft and sweet but after reading your post I am going to have to fool around with my recipe. I was also not rinsing enough and adding salt at the beginning. I was positive that I had finally mastered the art of cooking beans but I didn't relize that I was jeoperdizing the nutrients. My pressure cooker really did seem to be too good to be true :(

Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it :)

[Pedata]

Yay! :D It was the salt! What a relief. You really had me going, lol. I've been through everything I have on beans and couldn't find a reason (apart from salt) for your beans to be going hard. I'm so glad we figured it out :) :)


Peace,
Cassandra