When it comes to cooking, some things are just known. Eggplants need to be salted before cooking, apples and pork go together, and beans need to be soaked before cooking. Right? Wrong, apparently! At least on the last point.
It was always a truth universally acknowledged that dried beans need to spend a few hours swimming in water before being added to whatever dish is being made. The soaking typically begins the day before and lasts overnight, which means that you actually need to know what you’re cooking 24 hours in advance (or at least remember to put the beans in water).
But, all this is reportedly a myth!
Although soaking does reduce cooking time by around 25-30%, it can also cause the beans to lose flavor. Soaking thin-skinned black beans, for example, will usually leave you with a bowl of black water, while soaking, in some cases, can actually cause beans to sprout!
Beans are a food that can cause gas and it’s believed that pre-soaking them can lessen their bloating abilities. Another way to do so, if you’d rather skip the soaking method, is to cook the beans with a strip of Japanese dried seaweed known as kombu, as it has the same effect.
