The Importance of Soaking Your Beans | Simple Clean Living:
So why not just used canned beans and call it good?
Well, unfortunately canned beans have not properly soaked their beans to reduce phytic acid levels. Companies who are creating canned goods are also lining those cans with BPA, which has been found to affect hormone levels and can cause cancer. Because of the problem with BPA, some companies have been working to create a “safe” substitute called BPS. BPS has been used as a replacement because it does not leak out of plastic at the same rates as BPA. But unfortunately, it takes only miniscule amounts to have an effect on hormone levels and cause health problems. So the “safe” substitute is being found to be not so safe after all.
So it is far better…not to mention cheaper to pass on the canned beans and use bagged, dry beans instead.
Soaking Your Beans
This is a very simple process…it just requires a little advanced preparation when you need to use beans for a recipe.
Soaking Your Beans
Prep time
12-24 hours.
Cook time
Total time
Ingredients
- 2 cups of beans
- filtered water
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, lemon juice or liquid whey
Instructions
- Put your beans into a pot.
- Cover them with filtered water.
- Add your vinegar, lemon juice or whey.
- Allow to sit on the counter for 12-24 hours.
- Drain and rinse beans.
- Refill the pot with fresh filtered water.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and allow to simmer until the beans are soft (it will approximately 3-4 hours)
- Drain the beans.
- You can use them immediately in a recipe, or allow them to cool and freeze them for later use.
Notes
I love to do marathon bean soaking and cooking. Then, after they are cooked and cooled, I bag them up and freeze them for recipes! 1½ cups of cooked beans equals one can!
