No one could feel flattered to be valued like a “hill of beans”. However, during the depression of the 1930’s, beans were the standby to fill you up.
Throughout the world, beans have been paired with grains as the staple of many cultures. Mexicans have corn and beans. The Chinese have rice and soybean products. In the Middle East, garbanzo beans go along with bulgur wheat or couscous.
This pairing of beans and grains has a nutritional basis in obtaining the full complement of essential amino acids. Various beans lack the essential amino acid, methionine, which can be supplemented by the consumption of grains. Together they can provide all the eight essential amino acids that the body cannot manufacture on its own.
Beans are therefore important for nutrition and in fact the most inexpensive source of protein. Beans have 17-25% protein and this is more than eggs or most meats. Beans also have valuable fiber, carbohydrates, B-complex vitamins, and minerals such as calcium. As compared to meats, beans provide protein without the accompanying fat, cholesterol, or toxic nitrogen waste products.
Beans have gained the unsavory reputation of causing gas. One solution for this problem is to soak the beans in water up to 6-8 hours and to throw out the soaking water. If you are still worried about a problem with gas, then you can throw out the cooking water after 30 minutes of boiling beans and then continue cooking with new water.
Another possible remedy is to use kombu dashi seaweed, about a three inch strip for a small pot of beans. For more insurance, add 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of sea salt per cup of dried beans when the beans are about 80% done. Both kombu and sea salt help the digestion of kidney beans, soybeans, and fava beans. Split peas, baby lima beans and lentils are the easiest to digest.
Beans, in Oriental medicine, have been felt to be beneficial for the kidneys, partly due to their similarity in shapes. As such, they are also associated with the winter season, have been useful as a source of warmth, and can weather storage without a problem from rodents or bugs.
The simple way of preparing beans is boiling. Add 3 1/2 to 4 cups of water per cup of dried beans. Bring to a boil, then simmer until the beans are soft. Boil off the excess water at the end. Pre-soaking and adding the kombu and sea salt, as suggested above, is recommended. Beans can take up to 4 hours to prepare as is the case with azuki beans, garbanzos, and black beans.
If it is true that we are what we eat, we may then have a clue to our origin as human “beans”.