Autumn Jewels and Musical Fruit

The acid medium (vinegar,whey) helps to neutralize the enzyme inhibitors (phytates), making beans and grains more digestible and nutrient-dense.

WonderfulIngredients also provides a soaking chart at the above URL for various types of beans and grains.  My measurements tend to be a little more informal – eye it up and pour, let it soak overnight. Soaking also reduces cooking time and may reduce flatulence.

What are phytates and why should I care what they are or want to remove them? 

I found a great discussion of this on Live Fit Blog:

Phytates are the salts of phytic acid.  More correctly named inositol hexakisphosphate, the acid (or salt) is a phosphorus based compound found in the many plants.  Specifically those high in fiber, with concentrations generally being highest in foods containing large amounts of insoluble fiber.  Occurring most frequently in nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains, phytates serve as the primary mechanism by which plants store phosphorus.  Like so many other things in life, there is some debate about the health effects of phytates.  Detractors claim they exhibit an anti-nutrient effect, while promoters tout their potential for reducing a variety of ills.

Phytates As Anti-Nutrients

For quite some time, phytates have been viewed as “anti-nutrients.”  Since non-ruminant animals (i.e. humans) lack the proper enzymes to digest phytates, the phosphorus in these molecules is generally not available (for nutritional purposes) to humans.  This means that consuming foods high in phytates will not serve to meet daily requirements for phosphorus.
From a nutritional perspective, phytic acid is known to strongly complex many cations, and when in the presence of these nutrients, the acid reacts to form a salt, known as a phytate.  Included in that list are minerals that will complex with phytic acid are:  calcium, magnesium, zinc, and iron.  This means that phytic acid will scavenge these minerals, reducing their availability to serve nutritional needs, which concerns some nutritional experts, as it presents the potential for nutritional deficiencies.  From a practical perspective, this has the greatest potential to impact vegetarians, pregnant women, and the extremely malnourished, due their generally low mineral consumption.

Nutritional Benefits of Phytates

On the flip side of this argument, since phytates are found in high fiber foods, it is thought that they may possess strong cancer suppressing activity as well.  High fiber foods have shown protective benefits against a wide variety of cancers.  In addition, phytates have shown some ability to suppress free radicals in the body.  Some experts have suggested that the ability to complex iron may be the root of their function in this capacity.
Other suspected benefits of phytates include:

• Protective benefits against osteoporosis
• Protection from Parkinson’s disease
• Reduce inflammation in the body
• Reduce oxidative stress on the digestive tract
• Reduce depression
• Slows blood glucose response by slowing digestion

 I think I’d just as soon get those extra minerals out of what I’m eating, so I soak.  As another interesting aside, if you visit Rebuild from Depression, the author is very much in favor of reducing phytate consumption to assist with recovery from depression.  On her website she gives a pretty exhaustive breakdown of various methods of reducing phytates and their effectiveness.  Her conclusion is a long soak in hot water because she prefers the flavor.  With what I’ve been cooking, I really don’t notice a difference.

Here are a couple of my favorite bean recipes.

Boston Baked Beans

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 lb. dried pinto or navy beans
• ½ lb. bacon (about 12 slices)
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons molasses
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground black pepper
• 1 ½ tablespoons minced garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

PREPARATION:
Place dried beans in a large bowl and add enough water to cover by 2-3 inches (about 8 cups). Let the beans soak overnight.

Drain and rinse the beans. Simmer beans in 8 cups of water and 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar until tender, about 1 to 2 hours.

Drain and set aside, reserving 2 cups of the cooking liquid.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Using a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon until crisp, 7 or 8 minutes. Add the beans and all other remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Add some of the cooking liquid if the mixture is too thick.

Transfer pot to oven. Bake uncovered for 2-3 hours (or to desired thickness) until the beans are tender, stirring occasionally.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Bean Soup with Ham

INGREDIENTS:

1 ham bone with some meat left on, or two-three ham hocks

1 tbsp vinegar

2 cups Navy, Northern beans or mixed beans (I used Polish beans)

8 cups water

2 cloves garlic,whole or minced

2 bay leaves

small handful of parsley

1 large onion, chopped

Salt and pepper, to taste

2-3 carrots, sliced

2-3 medium potatoes, cubed

DIRECTIONS:
Soak beans overnight in warm water or water and vinegar.  Put bones and other ingredients except carrots in pot and simmer on low for at least four hours.  I prefer all day (my goal here is to get get as much calcium, gelatin and other nutrients out of the bones as possible).  Add additional water as needed.

About an hour before serving, remove bones and pick off meat, return meat to pot.  Remove parsley stems.  If you want a meatier soup, you can add a little extra ham at this point.  Add carrots and potatoes and cook soup until tender.  Remove bay leaf before serving.