Hello and welcome to my Tuesday Tip number four (goodbye to counting in Spanish, for now anyway. Side note: four is "cuatro" in Spanish).
Today I want to talk about beans. Or rather, the gas they can cause.
Are you one of the not-so-lucky ones who experiences bloating after eating beans? Maybe you've even used my trick from Tuesday Tip #3 to reduce the flatulence after eating a burrito or chickpea curry?
Either way, I think it's safe to say that we all know that beans and legumes can cause gas and flatulence. Some even call them the "musical fruit".
But fret not, it's time to silence the fruit, as I have a tip for you:
Add a teaspoon of baking soda to your beans when you start boiling them.
And hey presto, you will have silenced the fruit! Or at least turned down the volume.
Beans cause gas because they contain a large amount of a complex sugar called raffinose, which the body tends to find difficult to break down (this sugar is also found in cabbage, Brussel sprouts and broccoli - notice a trend here?).
The baking soda helps to break down this sugar, thus reducing the gas-making mechanics - and saving a marriage or two (trust me, this has helped several of my clients and their marriages - no joke).
Beans and legumes are such a fantastic source of protein, fibre and nutrients, as well as being really tasty, versatile and economically friendly, so it would be a shame to stop eating them.
So try out this trick the next time you make some beans and see if it works.
Maybe you won't feel like a blimp about to take off to its own musical symphony?
Let me know how you get on!
xo Bee
*Note that this trick applies to dried beans that you soak and boil at home, not canned beans.
**Also note that this will cut the cooking/boiling time by 30-50%, so make sure you take this into account when following the cooking instructions (e.g. if the recipe says you should boil the beans for 90 minutes, you will only need to boil the beans for about 60 minutes with the baking soda added).