Nice read! For the impatient: they found no common cooking technique that helped significantly reduce - as they call it the “fartyness” of the beans..
It's the best part of beans though. Everybody loves their own brand.
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Can you stop beans from making you gassy?
81–90 of 151 posts
Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?
#82Not related to beans, but I had serious issues with bloating, gas and bad smell comparable to sewage. It went on for years until I had a short massage to adjust my stomach, the lady was pushing and shifting things around. This was a few months ago. Ever since I haven't had that type of gas, and I burp now which I haven't for years. I didn't change my diet at all.
Was this a normal body massage, where they also worked on your stomach or specifically a massage for the stomach promising a cure for your specific issues?
Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?
#83Yes. You just eat beans a lot. After a few months it stops making you gassy until you eat a type of bean you have never eaten before and then you are back to square one. Source: vegan who eats beans with 75+% of meals
Reminds me of the cure for lactose intolerance: You just have to keep drinking milk until your microbiomes adapts.
Or you can drink camel milk and then slowly move on to bovine milks.
Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?
#84If you are unfamiliar with the author, Dave Arnold is a former instructor at the French Culinary Institute, a bar owner/operator in NYC (Booker & Dax (closed), Existing Conditions (closed), and Bar Contra ( https://www.barcontra.com )), a cooking equipment designer and manufacturer ( https://www.bookeranddax.com ), sharer of lots of knowledge (e.g. https://cookingissues.com/primers/sous-vide/part-i-introduct... ), Ja…
I just want to dap this comment about Dave Arnold. If you’re a nerd (science nerd) who likes food then Dave is your guy. His podcast is great and if you want to blow away your next Thanksgiving meal, find his stuffing recipe.
Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?
#85I'm a vegan so experienced bean eater. There are a couple things I found that help, but they do come at a cost of flavor or texture: Soak and rinse, but the soak water should be boiling when the dry beans go in. Alkaline. Sodium Carbonate (baking soda) or calcium hydroxide (lime) work. Throw away the cooking water. This has to be done carefully, as too much of either can give the food a mineral taste and/or dissolve…
>Sodium Carbonate (baking soda)
I assume you meant Bicarbonate? Washing soda is pretty heavy duty and I've always used 1/4 tsp bicarb/lb of dry beans for dealing with old beans that won't soften the old fashioned way without any problems. You can also add the bicarb to the soaking water if making dry beans. Discard and rinse, as usual.
Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?
#86Yes. You just eat beans a lot. After a few months it stops making you gassy until you eat a type of bean you have never eaten before and then you are back to square one. Source: vegan who eats beans with 75+% of meals
Reminds me of the cure for lactose intolerance: You just have to keep drinking milk until your microbiomes adapts.
An article on this did the rounds a few months ago and suddenly everyone quotes it as gospel truth.
Unfortunately, it's not. What will happen is that you'll get somewhat better at digesting lactose as your gut bacteria learn to partially compensate for your lack of ability to produce lactase enzyme.
If you're only slightly lactose intolerant that might be sufficient. But for many people it would just make a bad health issue into a slightly less bad healthy issue.
Not great when there's a clear and obvious full cure available: don't eat dairy if you can't digest it.
Or maybe lactase enzyme pills. I've tested them for an occasional slice of cheese cake and they seem to work if I get the timing right.
Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?
#87I'm a vegan so experienced bean eater. There are a couple things I found that help, but they do come at a cost of flavor or texture: Soak and rinse, but the soak water should be boiling when the dry beans go in. Alkaline. Sodium Carbonate (baking soda) or calcium hydroxide (lime) work. Throw away the cooking water. This has to be done carefully, as too much of either can give the food a mineral taste and/or dissolve…
I'm not very familiar with this topic. What is the chemical mechanism through which you feel that baking soda reduces undigestible sugars in beans?
Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
If Dave Arnold says he really doubts it, it's a pretty safe bet he's read like a dozen papers related to the prediction and is basing it on something. He's like the Bunnie Huang of cooking.
In the article the only explanation he gives is that it doesn't make sense to him, doesn't mention any papers or anything at all. But I'm pretty certain that he's wrong and it works. The difference in gas if I've been eating beans recently vs if I haven't eaten them in a couple of months is not just "I feel like maybe I get a little bit less gassy maybe" it's going from "two dozen farts at least, guaranteed" vs "one…
More anecdata here. For various health reasons, about six months ago I started eating beans every day for lunch. At first it was… intense. But within a few weeks, the gas entirely disappeared. I now have no issues whatsoever.
FWIW, some beans are easier on my system than others. Kidney beans (sadly), my favorite, can be murder if you don’t cook them thoroughly enough. Lentils, on the other hand, seem to be pretty gentle. They also soak up whatever flavor they are cooked in so they are a great “starter bean” if you want to eat a more vegetarian diet.
Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?
#89There are actual real solutions to this. Just look to the older cultures that ate lots of beans. In many parts of Africa the ultimate solution is to peal the skins off the beans. This removes all digestive issues with bean consumption but it's a lot of work. Another solution is to uses the microbe Aspergillus by consuming Miso paste with the beans which help break down indigestible polysaccharides.
In regards to the first method, are you saying that the skins of beans are the majority source of undigestible sugars in beans?
actually, come to think of it, fiber is also a source of gas. Are the skins of beans the higher source of fiber?
Re: Can you stop beans from making you gassy?
#90Not related to beans, but I had serious issues with bloating, gas and bad smell comparable to sewage. It went on for years until I had a short massage to adjust my stomach, the lady was pushing and shifting things around. This was a few months ago. Ever since I haven't had that type of gas, and I burp now which I haven't for years. I didn't change my diet at all.
Was this a normal body massage, where they also worked on your stomach or specifically a massage for the stomach promising a cure for your specific issues?
Sounds like the massage moved his intestines around