Turns out cooking dried red kidney beans and cannellini beans in your slow cooker can make you sick.
However, both of these colors of kidney beans can be toxic when prepared in a slow cooker.
All of you chili champions and stockpilers of beans, especially, need to hear this.
Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) is the lectin in the beans that causes people to become sick.
Eliminating the toxic level of lectin in the beans is super easy.
(And no need to worry about canned beans; they’ve already been prepared properly.)
Luckily cooking these dried beans safely is as easy as 1-2-3.
How to Safely Cook Dried Red Kidney Beans & Cannellini Beans
1.
Soak the dried beans for a minimum of 5 hours or overnight.
Drain the soaked beans and put them in a large pot.
Add enough fresh water to cover them by 2 inches.
Bring to a boil.
Boil the beans for 30 minutes.
Drain the beans and use in your slow cooker recipe.
The 30-minute boil will rid the beans of lectin, which can cause temporary gastrointestinal distress.
Beans are nutritious, delicious and affordable, especially when you buy them dried.
