To soak or not to soak, that is the question.

I forgot to soak my beans.
I often forget to soak my beans.
I often forget to do many things but that is not our topic today.

Bean soaking is my chosen topic today. Hey, I told you I was weird yesterday, so you shouldn't be surprised today!
So, why do we soak beans anyway? Did your mom or grandmother soak her beans. Did you see it on a cooking show...soak your beans! Is it merely tradition which has us soaking our beans? WHY oh why do we soak our beans??? Am I the only one out there with these questions???



silence............crickets chirping........more silence......Yes, I probably am.
Somehow that amuses me.

I awoke some time in the middle of the night last night to the song from Fiddler on the Roof, Tradition. Yes, my measly little brain was wondering, as I slept, if soaking beans was done based on tradition or true need.
So, I had to get up and do some research. Not right then mind you, my computer is in my room, the screen faces the bed. Husband would probably not be too happy about me researching bean soaking at 2 in the morning. I calmed my rapidly beating heart and inquisitive brain and went back to sleep.

Well, this morning after getting the kids off to school, I hurried in to do the research I so craved.

Here is what I found out. Hang on, this is boring and you may fall asleep reading it!
Beans have phytates in them. You may also hear it called phytic acid (ha, or not....I had never heard either term before, but remember folks I am on a learning journey) This phytic acid is in our beans and decreases our ability to absorb the minerals found in the beans. Iron, calcium, phosphorus, potassium are a few listed to be found in various beans. Apparently soaking beans helps to get rid of the evil phytates allowing for better mineral absorption when we eat the beans.
These minerals in our protein packed beans do a lot for our bodies, but the one thing that kept coming up was that they are depression busters! WHAT!!! So you are telling me I can soak my beans an be happier. Now that is some good news!

Many packages say to soak overnight. I read some research that said you can reduce the phytic acid levels by about the same amount by soaking the dry beans for about 3 hours at 140 degrees. Visit this page for a doctors research on this topic.
Now, if you are like me and laze around all day and have time to constantly meander back into the kitchen to add heated water to your beans to retain the temperature then by all means do that! I am soooo gonna make that my project next week. Otherwise soaking overnight does the trick!

So, there you have it folks.
Soaking beans may not be tradition but there is something to it after all.

Go forth, soak your beans, be happy!
The information in this blog is not meant to be used as medical advice!