© David Edwards, 2008
PRINCIPLES: Elder Keith B. McMullin, in General Conference, April 2007, suggested that Church members first obtain a reserve of food that may last several months, and, second, acquire basic long-term food storage items that can keep individuals or a family alive. Legumes is a category of food storage that he mentioned specifically. – Elder Keith B. McMullin, General Conference, April 2007
PRACTICES: Effective use of stored legumes, and, in particular, beans depends on your mastery of several important skills.
Sorting. Beans need to be sorted before being cooked. When sorting, remove rocks, dirt, organic debris, and any beans that are strangely shaped, shriveled, too small, with holes, or discolored.
Rinse- and soak-water. Rinse beans prior to soaking or cooking to remove any dirt or soluble foreign matter. Water used to soak beans needs to be discarded prior to cooking beans.
Soaking and cooking. Most dry beans require soaking before cooking. Soaking greatly reduces cooking time. Soak beans six to 12 hours (e.g., overnight) using three cups of water to one cup of beans. Beans should then be cooked until tender. This usually takes one to four hours. Lengthy soaking and/or pressure cooking may be needed for older beans. A few types of beans, such as lentils, can cook relatively fast, even without a pre-cook soaking. Cooking can be achieved without continuous lengthy boiling by putting rinsed, unsoaked beans in a pot, bringing the beans to a boil, boiling for two minutes, and then simmering at just below a boil for several hours until beans become tender. Season beans to taste. Be sure also to acquire and store an alternative-fuel stove and enough fuel and/or a sun oven for cooking beans under emergency conditions (no utilities).
Old beans. Old beans are difficult to rehydrate. They get hard. Cooking in a pressure-cooker may render them tender. You can also soften or mushify once-hard beans by soaking them in water with added baking soda. Hard old beans can also be ground in a grinder, using grinding stones/burrs sufficiently strong to grind beans. The protein-rich flour produced can be used as a soup thickener.
Adding flavorings. To avoid toughening beans, add salt, sugar, vinegar, tomatoes, and/or lemon juice after having cooked beans and they have become soft. Garlic and onion are some other flavorings.
Digestion. Flatulence caused by bacterial breakdown in our guts of poorly digestible sugars from beans can be lessened by (i) discarding rinse water, (ii) changing cooking water several times, (iii) cooking beans until soft, (iv) rinsing beans just before eating them, and (v) eating small, 3-oz helpings. Sprouting beans first also helps break down the sugars. Research shows that after most people have been regularly eating modest amounts of beans for 3 to 4 weeks, flatulence problems are no greater than flatulence problems present prior to including beans in the diet.
For more, see http://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/htm/dry-beans; www.mayoclinic.com/health/legumes/NU00260; www.legumechef.com/English/consejos_en.htm (these two sites contain much good advice; please ignore the outdated advice about soaking beans in just warm water after cooking, which has been found to potentially lead to growth of disease-causing spores); www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/21/6/A1077-b; http://preparetodaynewsletter.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html (go about 1/2 way down).
Graphics credits:
Bean soup: http://fitness.ksc.nasa.gov/images/fitness/health/recipes/white_bean_butternut_sq.jpg
Other photos: used by permission from M.T. from her blog site
