Important news for all kidney bean cookers, eaters and lovers!

I am currently reading this book:

It's so fascinating. Mysteries of life are revealed in a very poetic way. For example, I learned exactly why plants are green today. (Not sure if I could repeat it back to you; I'll need to re-read a few times. And maybe draw some pictures. Involves P_r and P_fr ratios.) The greater Mystery remains unsolved though really. As it ever will. The green plant info was included in a chapter on germination called "Fierce Energy" that had this subheading, a quote from George Bernard Shaw:

      Think of the fierce energy concentrated in an acorn!
      You bury it in the ground, and it explodes into an oak!
      Bury a sheep, and nothing happens but decay.

I thought I'd share something from the next chapter, "Sorrow's Mysteries," on poisons from plants because it's not just applicable to the science of plants, but also in our cooking and eating lives! (Not sure there's ever any differentiation). The chapter title came from a quote by John Keats, included as the subheading:

      No, no! go not to Lethe, neither twist
      Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
      nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd
      By Nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
      Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
      Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
      Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
      A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
      For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
      And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.
      FROM "ODE ON MELANCHOLY"

Ok, so on to the point (but beautiful ode, no?)-- kidney beans. Don't cook them from scratch in a slow-cooker or at any low temperature without first doing a hotter boil. They contain a toxic compound called phytohaemagglutinin. Many beans do, but kidney beans are the most concentrated (red and white (cannellini), though white has about 1/3rd less). So if you intend on cooking them from the dry stage (the optimal healthiest way) as opposed to from the can (hoping that bean companies know this-- they probably boil the hell out of their beans, so probably not to worry- but hence the optimal healthiest way is at home), you need to boil them for at least 10 minutes at or over 212°F. This will degrade the toxin. Recommended by the FDA is also a minimum 5-hour soak before the big boil. (Which is also the common way to cook most beans from the dry stage anyway- a good soaking overnight). And then following the big boil would be the actual cooking of the bean- a couple of hours in a boil of a temperature that probably doesn't need to be maintained above 212°. The slow-cooking can actually potentize the toxin! Beans that are cooked at a temperature of 176°F or less, slowly, are reported to be up five times as toxic as raw beans. Woo!

So a re-cap for cooking kidney beans:
1. Sort out pebbles from beans.
2. Overnight soak, drain soaking liquid. Rinse.
3. A minimum 10-minute boil at or above 212°F, guessing to drain that boiling liquid as well. Water level should be about 1-2 inches above level of beans.
4. The cooking boil-- somewhere around 1.5 hours. Same water level as above. About 3 cups water:1 cup beans.

Doesn't this look appetizing?

A sakura (Japanese flowering cherry-- appropriate for this time of year!) and white kidney bean paste delectable made by Sheryl.

And oh yeah, what could happen if you eat as few as 5 improperly cooked kidney beans is some fever, vomiting and diarrhea for a few hours. Usually you can recover without the need of a doctor.