Avoiding gas after eating beans

[MITllama]

I see lots of messages extolling beans and providing recipes, but I can't eat them without having lots of really bad gas attacks. My husband says I'm asphyxiating him. Someone has suggested eating seaweed and someone else suggested caraway and fennel, but I don't know how much of these to eat. Do you eat these before or after or with the beans? Any other suggestions? I get the same reaction from mung beans, red beans, pinto beans, and garbanzo beans. I like to cook up a batch and then eat for lunch with some other vegetables and a small serving (maybe 2-3 oz) of steamed mackeral. Very satisfying, holds me until dinner, low in cholesterol, and high in omega 3 fatty acids.

[Jason Perlow]

My understanding is that using dried beans and doing an overnight soak is what gets the gas out.

[Jinmyo]

Some people just can't produce the enzyme that allows them to digest beans. There are some products you can try like "beano". But for some, like me, nothing works.

[mcdowell]

Cook the beans with espazote (a herb native to Mexico/Southwest).

Note that it may be hard to find in certain parts of the country.

You can also use a few drops of beano.

Edited September 23, 2003 by mcdowell (log)

[fifi]

All cooking techniques, magic herbs, burying of newts under a rock won't help. Eating beans will!

The problem with beans (and some other "gassy" veggies) is that they contain some complex carbohydrates that your normal bacterial flora is not necessarily ready for. There is a product on the market called Beano that is actually an enzyme to help you out. Some of my friends swear by it.

What really happens is that you don't eat enough beans because they give you gas. Then when you do eat some, your buggles are not prepared. I go through periods when I just don't get around to eating beans. Then I will have some problems for a while when I get back to them.

[russ parsons]

you beat me to it fifi. i've got nothing to add but those sugars are called oligosaccharides. and that in places where beans are eaten all the time a) they're never soaked; and b) their "side effects" are not known.

[fifi]

oligosaccharides

Thank you for that. I couldn't think of that word to save me. (I was about to say I had a brain fart but I thought that would have been too obvious a pun.) I just used the "complex carbohydrate" as a trash can generalization. I was about to go find my copy of McGee cause the loss of that word was driving me nuts.

[guajolote]

Cook the beans with espazote (a herb native to Mexico/Southwest). 

I don't think it gets rid of the gas, but you should cook your beans with epazote anyway.

[Suvir Saran]

We in India use asafetida. And it is funny to note how so many Indians would eat beans made by one that does not use this ingredient and will be able to tell beacause of the aforementioned gas issues.

My editor at Clarkson Potter was the one who first mentioned Beano to me. I have never used it, but am told it does help many.

[fifi]

I have heard that about asafetida from fairly reliable sources. That makes me wonder if it might have an enzyme that is helpful.

[Jinmyo]

Cook the beans with espazote (a herb native to Mexico/Southwest). 

I don't think it gets rid of the gas, but you should cook your beans with epazote anyway.

Well, to get certain flavours in certain Mexican/Southwestern dishes it's essential.

But I'd never use it in a European dish.

[guajolote]

Cook the beans with espazote (a herb native to Mexico/Southwest). 

I don't think it gets rid of the gas, but you should cook your beans with epazote anyway.

Well, to get certain flavours in certain Mexican/Southwestern dishes it's essential.

But I'd never use it in a European dish.

I didn't mean with every bean dish, just that you should try it if you never had.

[JosephB]

We in India use asafetida.

Thanks. I'll keep a bag of asafeida in my back pocket when dining out.

[Al_Dente]

You have the wrong attitoot. You should take pride in your intestinal symphonies.

Let it rip. Don't cower in shame. Say, "yes, that was ME!"

Go for volume. Take pride in its resonance. Aim for maximum sustain.

We must stand together! Farters of the world unite!

[Mayhaw Man]

You have the wrong attitoot. You should take pride in your intestinal symphonies.

Let it rip. Don't cower in shame. Say, "yes, that was ME!"

Go for volume. Take pride in its resonance. Aim for maximum sustain.

We must stand together! Farters of the world unite!

I'm with you man. One of the first books I ever bought for my son was a lovely little volume called "The Gas We Pass". Come to think of it "The Stinky Cheese Man and other Twisted Tales" (a book I dearly love and reccomend to everyone for both the art and the tales) was his second book.

Hey, .........pull my finger

[fifi]

I do have to admit that living alone has its treasures.

[Suvir Saran]

We in India use asafetida.

Thanks. I'll keep a bag of asafeida in my back pocket when dining out.

It may or may not help. We cook with it. It is added during cooking. Not after.

There are mothers that rub a new born babies belly with asafetida water to give them comfort from gas. So maybe, it could work if you use it in ways similar to how an Indian mother would apply it to an infant.

[elyse]

I do have to admit that living alone has its treasures. 

[BettyK]

We in India use asafetida.

Thanks. I'll keep a bag of asafeida in my back pocket when dining out.

It may or may not help. We cook with it. It is added during cooking. Not after.

There are mothers that rub a new born babies belly with asafetida water to give them comfort from gas. So maybe, it could work if you use it in ways similar to how an Indian mother would apply it to an infant.

You forgot one thing. Keep a bottle of perfume in your front pocket and spray very frequently.

Did you know that Asafoetida is also known as Devil's Dung?

Seriously, check here:

http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/

[Suvir Saran]

We in India use asafetida.

Thanks. I'll keep a bag of asafeida in my back pocket when dining out.

It may or may not help. We cook with it. It is added during cooking. Not after.

There are mothers that rub a new born babies belly with asafetida water to give them comfort from gas. So maybe, it could work if you use it in ways similar to how an Indian mother would apply it to an infant.

You forgot one thing. Keep a bottle of perfume in your front pocket and spray very frequently.

Did you know that Asafoetida is also known as Devil's Dung?

Seriously, check here:

http://www-ang.kfunigraz.ac.at/~katzer/engl/

Yes, how could I forget.

I am always so impressed by Gernot Katzers site. It has all the information one needs. At least related to names and origin etc and many a historical note. Thanks for the link.

[IrishCream]

Is this perhaps a genetic thing? I have never had a problem with beans. I do always throw out the soaking water, whether I have used the overnight soak method or the quick one minute boil method. I am curious.

[fifi]

I can't find any information on a genetic connection but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. The oligosaccarides don't get thrown out with the water so that doesn't have anything to do with it. My guess is you have some good bugs.

[sigma]

The wife, aka the nose who knows, is getting frustrated with my flatulence after eating my beloved beans. Is there a rule as to how to prepare them so I don't get the toots after dinner and into the next day? I've read McGee, Bittman etc, but haven't found anything that will satisfy the nose.

[Meredith380]

Hmm... Maybe beano? Or eating them frozen?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I put a few leaves of fresh Paico, also known as Epazote, into the pot when I cook beans. Voila, no gas. I generally cook beans from fresh, though, not from dried.

Of course, it's also a common garden weed in my neck of the woods....