This is definitely worth reading, and doing. Do it! -Tim
Properly Prepare Black Beans for Resistant Starch
Properly preparing black beans for resistant starch and to ease digestion is very simple. It just requires a bit of planning ahead. I’ve found soaked black beans are tolerated by my body very well. I had been avoiding all legumes for the past four years because they irritated my gut and made my joints hurt. A 24 to 48 hour soak eliminates those problems.
Soaking Black Beans
Place the dry black beans in a bowl and remove any broken beans or foreign pieces. Fill the bowl with water – preferably filtered water. The beans will swell to at least twice the original size. Add about one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to the bowl, the acid of the vinegar seems to assist the process. After a few hours, add water if needed to cover beans
Then let sit 24 to 48 hours. I prefer to let them soak at least 48 hours and like to see signs of sprouting before I cook them. From what I understand, once they are starting to sprout all the potential gut irritants are gone from the bean. Change the water? I’m not sure, I’ve tried it both ways and each seems to work well.
Rinse well. Place in a pot and add fresh water. Simmer for at least two hours on low heat until the beans are tender.
Increase the Resistant Starch
Ideally, you’ve prepare a large batch. Now you can separate it out into usable portions and place in freezer bags. Transfer the bags to the freezer. The interesting part is that the freezing increase the amount of Resistant Starch(RS) in the beans. It goes through a process of retrogradation, this produces RS that will not breakdown easily by further cooking.
Thaw and enjoy
Throw a bag of the beans in the refrigerator and enjoy them. I like to add them to eggs. Or, make a simple salad by adding diced onion and garlic and sprinkle with cumin and olive oil.
RS is really interesting. I’ve included in my diet for just over a month now and have great improvements in my digestion. We understand the importance of healthy gut flora and RS is food for those beneficial bacteria. It only makes sense we should be providing them with food.
I’ve mainly just been using Bob’s Red Mill Potato Starch
mixed in water or yogurt, plus my green plantain chips. I believe I will make an effort to include RS as a regular part of my diet from now own. The improvements in digestion and feelings of well being are just to great – plus it is food!I’ve tried a few different legumes and find I do best with lentils, black beans and pinto beans. Kidney beans seem to cause my joints to hurt even when soaked.
Follow along with all the latest at Free the Animal, Richard and Tim have been bringing RS into the spotlight.
