boiling pulses

As far as I know only dried soya and kidney beans have toxins that need to be boiled for 10 minutes to eliminate the toxins - then have the water discarded.

I'm boiling aduki beans today and apparently the boiling water used to be thought to be a good tonic for the kidneys. I won't be drinking it!

I bought a lot of dried soup mix at the start of the pandemic and I find the dried peas in it seem to remain rock hard even after a lot of soaking. I must start using it up. Although I use a lot of pulses in stews etc these days I only ever buy tinned kidney beans after a friend of mine nearly died after not cooking them properly.

Re dried peas, I seem to remember they used to be sold with a little packet of fat and were called "marrowfat peas". Just wondering if soaking them with some oil would help soften the skins and make them cook faster.

I use a lot of lentils, some of which (like beluga lentils) I do soak before cooking. I generally buy split peas rather than whole peas because this solves the soaking problem.

Riverwalk

As far as I know only dried soya and kidney beans have toxins that need to be boiled for 10 minutes to eliminate the toxins - then have the water discarded.

This is my understanding too.

All dried beans contain some phytohaemagglutinin which is what causes the problem. Some (like kidney) have more than others. This means we should soak and ditch the water then boil for at least 10 mins for black beans, pinto, broad/fava, Lima, kidney and cannellini beans, black-eyed-beans etc
The toxin is the same one that causes gastroenteritis.
The toxin breaks down with 10 mins boiling.

Compared to legumes, lentils have a massively lower toxicity so you don't need to soak if you boil them properly. Obviously they do cook quicker if soaked.

this is a packet of soup or broth mix from Tesco, pearl. barley, split peas, whole peas, lentils, instructions say soak overnight, drain and rinse, boil for ten minutes and then reduce heat.
My ponder is, should I then discard the boiled water. This morning I searched online, found conflicting information.

I’m making Scotch Broth in the slow cooker, it will probably be ready by Wednesday.

Nowadays I use only tinned kidney beans, some which I remember are quite hard I boil anyway, can’t be too careful.

I have decided life is too short to boil pulses ,I open a tin.

I use soup mix. I boil it for ten minutes, drain it and then add it to whatever I’m cooking, in the last case, a ham hock in the slow cooker. My mother used to use red lentils and split peas in soups and stews regularly but I never remember her boiling them first. I think she just soaked them overnight.

I don't exactly boil lentils. I fry some onions and garlic, then chuck them, the lentils, a large variety of gentle spices, stock, chopped up leftovers, etc, into a casserole dish. bung a lid on and let it stew in the oven. Turns out perfectly dal-ish every time.

I just throw and handful of the soup mix in soup and long cook casseroles but I don't know if I will be doing those this year.

It might be cheaper to buy r4eady meals than use the oven for long periods

Baggs

Re dried peas, I seem to remember they used to be sold with a little packet of fat and were called "marrowfat peas". Just wondering if soaking them with some oil would help soften the skins and make them cook faster.

I use a lot of lentils, some of which (like beluga lentils) I do soak before cooking. I generally buy split peas rather than whole peas because this solves the soaking problem.

I don't think it was fat.Was it not bicarb which kept the green colour but destroyed vitamins?

Baggs, would you please if you don't mind give a rough estimate of the quantity of water or stock relative to the lentils? .

You can look up tables on-line that give the safe boiling times for all pulses. Lentils only need a short boiling time, and have only a trace of the haemagluttin (?) toxins, so are fine just boiled as part of a dish.
I don't bother with looking up exact times - everything apart from lentils gets boiled for 10 minutes and the water discarded. Theoretically of course, the water is safe as it has been boiled, therefore destroying the toxin, but I always have the idea that it is 'bitter' and change it.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and foods used to publish a food safety leaflet that had all this information + safe temperatures, bottling times and was so useful. I got one in 1974 and treasured it (as they stopped publishing it) but it got lost in my last house move.

We soak overnight, bicarb soda in water, drain, fresh water, cook half done, drain, cook in broth. Simple. Very reasonable protein.

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) damages vitamin C, vitamin D, riboflavin, thiamin, and one of the essential amino acids (can'trememberwhich)
It doesn't affect niacin, vitamin A, vitamin B12, folic acid (and something else I've forgotten).

My parents used to use it but as a vegetarian using lots of pulses etc for nearly 50 years now I am aware that we shouldn't be doing it if we want to preserve nutrients.

Just googled "marrowfat" peas:

The name 'marrowfat' was coined around 1730 from marrow and fat. Another source says the peas were named because people wanted plump (fat) peas of the Maro variety, a Japanese variety introduced to the UK in the early 20th century.

(From Wikipedia)

NotSpaghetti

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) damages vitamin C, vitamin D, riboflavin, thiamin, and one of the essential amino acids (can'trememberwhich)
It doesn't affect niacin, vitamin A, vitamin B12, folic acid (and something else I've forgotten).

My parents used to use it but as a vegetarian using lots of pulses etc for nearly 50 years now I am aware that we shouldn't be doing it if we want to preserve nutrients.

Thank you for that information.

We're mostly vegan, if our children aren't coming round.

Obviously niacin, vitamin A, vitamin B12, folic acid matter to us. We'll take a look at the damage to the other nutrients which you list and figure if we acquire those nutrients any other way into our diet.

Lentils and dried peas won't cook if boiled in liquid that has salt in it. Shop bought soups and stocks need to be added after the cooking.

I use beans from tins, but pulses, lentills, soup mix, i just chuck in the dish I am using them in and let them cook 'in plve', so t speak.

My cooking has never caused anyone to suffer from food poisoning of any kind.

I have a very successful Sarah Brown recipe Red Dragon Pie cooling down on the worktop. Probably cost a lot of electric to do the 'boiling and simmering' using the oven, but it tastes lovely!

I cook dried red lentils in my lentil and water ever soup no soaking before hand. Which has lots of veg in with the lentils Oxo cubes salt and pepper bring to boil and cook for 90 mins. I use pearl barley from dried in my stews used salt ,pepper Oxo cubes plus veg and chicken or Quorn bring to boil and simmer 90 mins never had any problems . Everything tastes delicious.