French Beans

[Beryl]

I've just been browsing through the Dobies catalogue which came with this months TKG and I was suprised to see under the cooking recommendations for French Beans 'never to eat pods raw'.
I know dried beans must be boiled but I must confess to munching the occasional young bean when I am picking them.
I can find no mention of this in the other catalogues.
Are they poisonous raw or what?

Beryl.

[seedling]

I`ve been eating raw beans on and off for years. Both as a child when my mum grew them and now i grow them on my allotment. I love the taste of freshly picked french beans and the odd raw runner bean. havent done me any harm so far.

Seedling

[Beryl]

Glad I'm not the only one Seedling.
Thought I was about to keel over or something.
Odd though isn't it.

Beryl.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I've just looked it up on Google and it says that all beans contain Lectins and even though French beans only have small amounts they should not be eaten raw. Red kidney beans and canneloni beans are the most dangerous and should be boiled well for a good 10 minutes to destroy the poison, and it says slow cooking is even more dangerous as it may not reach boiling point and actually makes the poison five times more potent.

Lectins affect the blood cells, and so it is best to be on the safe side and cook them.

[Beryl]

Thanks for that Plumpudding.
I will stop nibbling in future - just in case.

Beryl.

[Compo]

Yikes

I eat the yellow and the purple french beans in salads, it appears that one should stop?

Compo

[oldherbaceous]

Well i find it most strange that we have not heard of this before.

[Weed]

GULP!...I have been eating raw veggies all my life and there is nothing quite like a raw bean of some kind when on the plot.

I think I am still alive and I certainly feel quite well.... is this another scare tactic by someone with nothing better to do?

[Chantal]

My mother has told me for years that I shouldn't eat raw beans I always assumed she'd got it wrong and it's the actual beans and not the bean pods that are poisonous.

I do recall, back in the early 80s, someone died because they'd cooked chilli in a slow cooker and as Plum Pudding says, the beans never reached a fast boil. There was right to do on the TV about the dangers of slow cookers. Advice was then to fast boil your beans first and then add to the slow cooker.

However, I've eaten bean pods both runner and French for the past 20 years with no discernable ill effects.

[Chantal]

Found this on Google

Curse of the lectins

Less than half a dozen kidney beans (phaseolus vulgaris) can make you as sick as a parrot. Surprised? Well, you would be, seeing that you’ve probably had nearly as many chilli con carnes as you’ve had hot dinners with no ill effects … apart from maybe a bit of wind. But don’t be fooled – those innocent looking red beans harbour the potential for hours of torture. The evil force within them are lectins, also called phytohaemagglutinins, a type of protein found in many types of beans. Kidney beans have the highest concentration of lectins.

Why are lectins so terrible? For two main reasons: they bind to intestinal cells preventing nutrient absorption and, when they enter the blood stream, they also bind to red blood cells. This causes the red blood cells to clump together, a process referred to as “agglutination”, rendering them useless. Symptoms of “red kidney bean poisoning” occur 1-3 hours after consumption, entailing extreme nausea, severe vomiting, followed by diarrhoea and abdominal pain. Recovery is usually rapid, and sets in after 3-4 hours.

You’re probably still wondering why this has never happened to you. The answer is simple: lectins are inactivated during cooking. Tinned kidney beans are always cooked, and when buying them dried, they are soaked and boiled before eating. It takes only four to five raw kidney beans to trigger symptoms – and, paradoxically, undercooked beans are worse than raw beans. You should, for example, never use dried or raw beans in a slow cooker, which cooks foods at low temperatures over extended time periods. Heating kidney beans to only 80°C (i.e. below boiling point) can turn them five times more toxic. To be on the safe side, you should soak dried kidney beans in water for at least 5 hours, pour away the water, and then boil them for at least one hour in fresh water. Raw beans need to be boiled for a minimum of ten minutes. Even green beans, such as French or runner beans, contain a small amount of lectins and should not be eaten raw.

[PLUMPUDDING]

The info in Chantal and Rosies posting is what I also looked up, but I couldn't find any other information on whether the other parts of the bean apart from the bean seeds contained toxins. So I'm still looking for info on the pods. Has anyone else had any luck finding this?

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Plumpudding, this is just a thought, maybe eating the french beans raw off the plant is fine as the beans inside have not developed fully.

[Chantal]

That's my theory too OH. I'm going to continue eating pods as always.

[Diane]

I had severe stomach pains for hours a couple of years back after scoffing raw beans whilst down at the allotment. Had to call in the GP - thought I was going do die.....

It does happen.



I didn't though - but I always cook them from now on. Perhaps I just have a sensitivity to them.

[pump_king]

Anyone told the French they should not be eating raw beans as the seem to appear on most plates of raw veggies, mind you we also get told red wine,animal fat,sugar are bad for us. Infact most things that the human race have been eating or drinking since the dawn of mankind is now bad for us in the 21st century.