Beans, beans the muscial fruit …
Yeah we know the rest of the song. So what gives beans that wonderful side-effect? Incomplete digestion, fermentation, and bacteria. Lovely, eh? Here’s what happens. When you soak beans prior to cooking, they soften (which is good) and start to ferment a bit. When the cooked beans are cooked, bacteria in your intestine find these partially fermented (and undigested) bit, consume them and expel … methane gas. So you fart because bacteria are farting (a gross simplification).
Okay, so what can be done? Researchers at Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela found that adding Lactobacillus casei and L. plantarum to the soaking water made the fermentation process a little more efficient so there wasn’t as much for the bacteria to chomp on and … it made nutrient absorption better too!
Pretty cool. Now, could this be done at home? Hmm, not right away. I guess you could find cultures and experiment yourself, but I wouldn’t suggest it. I bet the first application will be in the manufacturing process. Imagine the advertising … Uncle Jim’s Baked Beans … now with a 1/3 less gas!
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