Death by Bean

https://www.leaf.tv/articles/what-is-the-difference-between-lima-beans-butter-beans/


http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/beware-of-the-beans-how-beans-can-be-a-surprising-source-of-food-poisoning-931862.html


http://wildoats.com/blog-posts/undercooked-beans-dangerous/



http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/beware-of-the-beans-how-beans-can-be-a-surprising-source-of-food-poisoning-931862.html




Two weeks ago, in an effort to be a vegetarian,  I ate garbanzo beans and developed a bad case of food poisoning.  How could that have happened?  I actually haven't gotten to the bottom of it completely, and it's especially odd since they were canned.  

I did find out something disturbing about beans however.  Virtually all of them are toxic if eaten raw.  People have even died from eating raw beans.  

I had been warned by my doctor to soak beans before cooking them because they contained an enzyme that needed very much to be removed.  For this reason she didn't recommend canned beans because it's unlikely that they took the trouble to soak them first.  I'm guessing that's was the problem with the garbanzo beans.  

There was a case in criminal court about a man who took beans to a church dinner and poisoned all the people who ate the beans he brought.  Many believed it was done intentionally.  I doubt it.  It's not hard to do accidentally.   But try to convince John Law how it was that you brought beans containing cyanide to the church dinner.  

Beans of all sorts should be soaked for twelve (12) hours prior to cooking.  They then should be cooked at high heat, bringing to a boil for at least ten (10) minutes, and the first water thrown away.  Then bring to a second boil and cook for an hour.  In fact, one of the favorite means of cooking beans, in a slow cooker, or a crock pot, actually multiplies the level of toxicity.  

What kinds of poisons might the beans have?  Well, lima beans have cyanide.  There are other types of poisons.  Castor beans have ricin, but most people don't eat them.  Kidney beans lead the felon pack with poison.  

I heard recently that a restaurant makes flour from black eyed peas and uses that flour to make hush puppies.  It was an idea I considered trying.  Well, the peas should also be soaked twelve hours.  I guess ground when they dry.  Then deep fat fried.  It sounds iffy.  

I researched this problem and quickly came upon a sad tale of a woman who saw a recipe for falafels, which I've never eaten, but it sounds something like the hush puppies from ground black eyed peas idea.  Soon everyone in her family was deathly ill, and tried to get to the emergency room, but failed.  They rode it out at home, and survived, but didn't understand at first what had happened.  It wasn't fatal, but it was frightening. 

And most likely if this should happen, doctors won't put two and two together either, since they probably aren't aware of the problem.  They'll just be sure it's e coli.  

The idea of making flour from beans, like garbanzo beans, seems dangerous to me because of this.  I have read that commercially made garbanzo flour is processed to prevent this.  Hmm..  How so? 

Most people survive their ordeal with beans just losing a day of their lives spent lying in bed in between trips to the bathroom. feeling like they were beat up by the Mafia.  

Beware.