Mondo Knows Facts
Soaking beans before cooking saves fuel and time
Water rehydrates the seed and softens pectin in the cell walls
A dried bean is roughly ten per cent water and needs to reabsorb a great deal before it can cook evenly. An overnight soak lets water penetrate the cotyledons and begins softening the pectin that glues cells together, so the bean tenderises faster and more uniformly. Unsoaked beans cooked slowly will still soften, but they take considerably longer.
Where this comes from
Food and Agriculture Organization
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Tags: beans, legumes, soaking
Soaking beans before cooking saves fuel and time: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Water rehydrates the seed and softens pectin in the cell walls. The figure is taken from Food and Agriculture Organization, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
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