Soaking Your Beans….Discard the Water or Re-Use It?

[Panhead John]

As long as I’ve been cooking dried beans I normally re-use the water I soaked them in. I rarely soak them overnight, but do the 2 minute boil and soak for one hour method. I then add all my ingredients and begin the cook. I’ve read lots of recipes where it says to dump the water after soaking, and then start your beans with fresh water. I’ve tried it on a few occasions and don’t do it anymore. I actually think they taste better reusing the water they were boiled and or soaked in. I believe you lose some flavor when dumping the soaked water and starting with fresh. What do y’all do?

[Panhead John]

Huskee I screwed up. Feel free to move this to Bean discussion. Sorry…🤷♂️

[Huskee]

Done

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I follow Rancho Gordo's suggestion and rarely if ever soak beans, if I do... I keep the water. From my knowledge soaking wasn't for flavor but to reduce gas, maybe a fairy tale I dunno. Regardless it makes sense to me to reuse the water as it has some nutrients.

[tstalafuse]

I think you are supposed to put a cotton string that runs from the bean pot to the outside of the pot to let the gas have a way to crawl out..

[CaptainMike]

Soaking is to help rehydrate dry beans.

[Panhead John]

CaptainMike I agree! Soaking is just to rehydrate the beans and allows for a quicker cook time. When you pour out the soak water and start with fresh, it just happens to help reduce gas [farts] also.

[DaveD]

We use the water. Also don't soak overnight anymore, just a few hours typically. I have not done the side by side comparison experiment though. Hmmmm... experiment... *Homer-like drooling*

[58limited]

I rinse then soak. I keep the soaking water for the cook.

[Mosca]

I read a long time ago that discarding the water makes them less gassy. I always discarded it up until I started getting beans from Rancho Gordo, now I keep it.

[tstalafuse]

I always discard the water. I was told that it was to partially wash the beans and we don't cook with dish water..

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

I heard lots of stuff like that, and grew up with lots of Hispanic friends so that's where I got the gas thing... but I never had access to fresh dried beans, and when using Rancho Gordo stuff at least I haven't had any of the side affects by not soaking that my previous "training" suggested I would have. If the dishwater is good for ya, why throw it out?

[Panhead John]

The only reason I’ve ever heard for the use of fresh water was for to reduce the amount of gas passed afterwards. Beans these days don’t really need rinsing or washing IMO, but I still rinse em anyway.

[klflowers]

I don't soak Rancho Gordo beans and I use stock to cook them lots of times. But I used to dump the water. No real reason why - just did it.

[Steve R.]

The main benefit is to shorten the cooking time, imho. Beano can help with any gas issues. 💨

[JLR]

There is a type of sugar in beans that the body can't process so it ferments in the intestines and produces gas. Soaking beans reduces some of the sugars in beans that cause gas. Panhead John method of 2 min boil with one hour soak works about as well as an overnight soak in this regard.
I soak overnight or longer to give the bean a little more time to start the sprouting process. I believe this makes for a slightly creamier texture that I find pleasant.
I always dump the water, rinse the beans, and cook with filtered water. I don't want any wayward flavors or chemicals in the water that I didn't put there.

[DTro]

What JLR said. I have always done what my mom did. Toss and rinse even with canned beans. This has bean a very good discussion!

[fzxdoc]

The food safety experts say to dump the water, since beans contain a toxic lectin* called PHA (phytohemagglutinin) which is not people-friendly, specifically, not gut-friendly. Red kidney beans and black beans are highest in this lectin, but it is present in other legumes as well.

Since the soaking water will also contain the toxin, dumping the water reduces the amount of the lecthin which must be denatured by boiling so that the beans are safer to eat.

https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2021/05/how-to-avoid-poisoning-from-red-beans/

https://cfaes.osu.edu/news/articles/chow-line-dry-kidney-beans-need-be-boiled

Here's a quote from Meathead's article on The Science of Beans.
"Drain the beans and discard the soaking liquid. I know a lot of beanbrains say to save the liquid, but it can be laden with lectin. Play it safe and throw out the soaking liquid...Proper cooking denatures the protein and destroys the toxins...(here Meathead refers to his cooking method): Research suggests (this) is the safest (cooking method). It is infinitely preferable to vomiting, diarrhea, and severe abdominal pain for 3 to 4 hours, all of which can be triggered by as few as 4 to 5 beans that have not been prepped properly."


Kathryn


*Lectins are widely occurring, sugar-binding proteins, but some of them may become toxic at high levels.
Among the lectins known to have toxic effects is phytohemagglutinin (PHA), which occurs at high levels in the seeds of legumes.

[DaveD]

Well now, I had not read this before. Lesson learned: bean water will be dumped henceforth.

[LA Pork Butt]

I am wondering if pressure cooking the beans eliminates the problem like boiling tends to. Growing up we ate red beans every Monday, but my mother always pressure cooked them.

[fzxdoc]

Yes it does, LA Pork Butt . Pressure cooking beans uses much higher temperatures than is achieved with boiling (250° is a typical pressure cooker temp), making it the perfect vehicle for cooking beans, both soaked and unsoaked, quickly and safely.

As to your earlier comment, all dried beans have some lectin in them, some much less than others. The biggest offenders are kidney beans and black beans, according to the FDA.

I follow the same FDA recommendations for all of the dried beans I cook.

[Texas Larry]

I don’t usually soak my beans. Not in a big hurry, and NOT convinced soaking removes the gas. I’m also not interested in pouring nutrition and flavor down the drain.

[ecowper]

Since I generally never pre-soak, but just cook the beans a la Rancho Gordo, I counted myself as re-using the bean water.

[Carolyn]

I have found that soaking kidney beans doesn't do much of anything. Cooking the beans make them safe to eat, and I digest them the same soaked or not. It gives me no problems either way. 🤷♀️ Seems to me the issues with digestion of beans/peas are individual. Some people will have problems, others won't. I can eat Lady Cream Peas without issue, but another person I know doesn't do so well with them. Based on my own experiences, I can only guess that some people can handle different lugumes better than others.