[Herbalist] The bean question

[Christine Seelye-King]

I just happen to teach a class at work on natural foods, and we cover the
bean problem in depth.  The culprit for beans is a carbohydrate called
raffinose sugar, one which humans lack the enzyme to digest.  There are
several ways to avoid the 'fart factor'.  Beano is a product sold in small
purse/pocket sized packages to add to your food when you're out and about,
and is basically a digestive enzyme that allows you to digest the unfamiliar
carb.  Soaking the beans and then discarding the soaking water will remove
much of the raffinose sugar.  Adding a bay leaf or asofaedtia (an Indian
spice) can help as well.  Adding a piece of kombu sea vegetable (sea weed)
to the cooking pot adds the digestive enzyme as well, and seems to work
best.   I've heard other ideas for herbs to add to the cooking pot, but none
that I can confirm anywhere.
Hope this helps,
Christianna

> -----Original Message-----
> From: herbalist-admin at ansteorra.org
> [mailto:herbalist-admin at ansteorra.org]On Behalf Of DianaFiona at aol.com
> Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 4:44 AM
> To: herbalist at ansteorra.org
> Subject: [Herbalist] Re: Herbalist digest, Vol 1 #150 - 1 msg
>
>
> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> In a message dated 3/10/02 01:03:24 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> herbalist-request at ansteorra.org writes:
>
>
> >
> > and a reference to herbs used to make Beans more
> > digestable???-Indian? the only herb that I link with
> > beans is winter savoury
> >
>
>        Actually, I've heard a number of things listed as being useful for
> that purpose, including pretty much all of the seeds in the
> dill/caraway/fennel family. I preffer those in other dishes than beans,
> though--such as fennel seeds in the sweet and sour cabbage I
> make. I'm sure
> I've *heard* of herbs used for this in India, but at the moment
> the only one
> that's floating to the top of my brain is Epazote, which is
> Mexican instead.
> And *it* isn't terribly effective, either, from what I can tell...........
> ;-)
>
>                                Diana
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