Can you stop beans from making you gassy?

rand846633

Nice read! For the impatient: they found no common cooking technique that helped significantly reduce - as they call it the “fartyness” of the beans..

mstank

I always found it I eat them consistently, they would make me less gassy. But only after a couple of weeks.

tmoertel

I was surprised they didn't try sprouting the beans before cooking. When a bean germinates, it converts sugars in storage forms to more usable forms. Given that the author seems to understand that gassiness is caused by being unable to digest FODMAPs, sprouting to reduce gassiness seems like an obvious hypothesis to test.

insaneirish

If 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... ), James Beard Award winning book author ( https://www.kitchenartsandletters.com/products/liquid-intell... ), and a weekly podcast host ( https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cooking-issues-with-da... ). I highly recommend anything he works on.

locallost

There is an old New York Times article (90s) that makes the same conclusion. The only real way to reduce the issue is to eat then more often. Personally never had big issues with beans. What's far worse for me is anything with a high inulin content. I feel physical pain from bloating when eating that.

blackjack_

Yes. 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

zanellato19

It's a Portuguese article, but a well known thing in Brazil to leave them in water https://www.nationalgeographicbrasil.com/ciencia/2024/10/voc...

Jarmsy

Disappointed not to see any mention of epazote.

balupton

There are digestive enzymes on the market that solve digestive gas for beans, legumes, lentils, peanuts, broccoli, etc. You take one or a few at your first bite, and problem solved. Bean-zyme is the most popular in the US apparently. Vegan and international options are NOW's Optimal Digestive System, Bulk, California Gold's Digestive Enzymes, and Bulk's Digezymes. Your mileage may vary.

Schlagbohrer

Try Asafoetida powder (Hing root powder), just a tiny pinch with bean or lentil dishes.

hypertexthero

> These tests blew me away. Made me laugh : )

kopadudl

Why would you? Farting is the pinnacle of comedy.

christkv

Hmm too bad he did not try out the method I use which is soaking in water with a bit of baking soda. You got to rinse the beans well before cooking them. Would be interesting to know if it really makes a difference on the gas. It does on the skin though making them much softer.

howlin

I'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 the beans entirely. Fermentation also works. Lactic acid (like kimchee or pickles) helps a little. Koji (either added or grown on the beans themselves) helps a lot. Both will have a big impact on the flavor and what the beans will be good for in the end.

ambientenv

I find these discussions both entertaining and annoying. We humans unquestionably expect to be able to bend the world to our will, even when the “world” is defined by some arbitrary set of rules put forth by some faction whose intent is solely to serve their own purposes, desires, and needs, independent of a shared reality. Legumes, among other things, make you fart. Get over it.

daneel_w

Something quite acidic after the meal works great for me. I prefer a small glass of water with two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. It's not tasty but it's just one quick swig, and as a bonus fermented beverages/foods are very beneficial.

Heston

There 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.

dsego

Not 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.

dyauspitr

Yes. Black mustard, asaefotida and fenugreek.

burnt-resistor

As mentioned in the article, alpha galactosidase supplements like Beano exist.