Soaking Beans

I borrowed my mom's copy of Nourishing Traditions since mine is packed away in the garage....and I read page 495 so that I could better answer Amy's question from way back. And here's what I learned.

In addition to what I said here about soaking beans for the benefit of avoiding unwanted um, ur, gas and for the sake of speeding up cooking time, soaking beans also aids in making them easier to digest.

One thing I didn't know is that you should always skim off the foam that appears while cooking them. Discard the foam.

Another tip is to soak them always using lemon juice when soaking.

Soak for 12-24 hours in a warm place to make them as digestable as possible. (this fits in with Nourishing Tradition's practice of fermenting foods so that they are easier to digest.)

Here is the basic recipe in NT:
2 cups beans
warm water to cover

If making black beans, mix in 2 tbsp whey or lemon juice. Whey is the liquid that separates from yogurt. You can either buy it in specialty health stores, pour it off of your yogurt or make it by hanging your yogurt in cloth over night and letting the whey drip out of it into a bowl. Your yogurt will now be cream cheese. The whey is the basis for most fermenting methods.

Leave in warm place for 12-24 hours depending on the size of the bean. Small beans 12 hours, large beans 24 hours. Drain, rinse (don't skip this part), cover with fresh water and cook either in a pot on the stove simmering for 6-8 hours or in a crock-pot on low for 8 hours. Add more water if needed. Skim foam off of the top as needed. Do not salt until they are done cooking. Salt slows down the cooking process.

The best seasonings for beans are:
salt
garlic
onions
taco seasoning

I should mention that if you sprout your legumes/beans even for a day or two that it will increase their nutrition emmensly but it can also alter the taste as well. I have not experimented with sprouting beans that I use for cooking yet.

I hope this post was helpful when it comes to soaking legumes.