to be lying awake worrying about toxic kidney beans?

[mikado1]

I was feeling very happy about adding kidney beans to my salad and decided to look up the benefits last night only to see that they are toxic unless boiled for 15 minutes! (Surely that cancels out any goodness? !)

Has anyone else heard about this? There's nothing written on the tin or packet. I am pregnant and anxious enough about how I could possibly be harming baby and was awake during the night worrying about it! !

Has anyone heard about this before

It doesn't apply to tinned beans which have already been cooked. You will be fine.

If they came in the tin they are already pre-cooked and fine to eat straightaway. If they came in a packet and are dry and hard they need to be boiled to kill off the toxin, but would have made your salad strangely crunchy if you'd eaten them like that!

Yes, of course I've heard about it. I thought it was common knowledge.

The tinned ones are already cooked, so fine to use straight away. The dried ones just need soaking and cooking.

I would imagine they'd be inedible if cooled for less than 15 minutes.

They are fine to eat from a tin without further cooking but dried ones need to be boiled (I would say for 30 minutes) before eating. If you have eaten dried ones which haven't been boiled for long enough, I think you would already have experienced the toxic effects (vomiting etc).

Only dried beans need boiling first so tinned ones are fine

If they aren't cooked then they would be too hard to eat anyway.

Tinned ones are fine to add. Honest.

It didn't occur to you that you couldn't physically eat them in their unboiled state anyway?

Helpful madre

Thanks all, the ones I used were tinned so that's definitely ok? It didn't say that on the sites I was frantically reading! !

TheMoa you would think it would be common knowledge alright! ! Said it to a few in work and no one had heard of it! Similar to rice being 'dangerous' to reheat-I had never heard of that until a few years ago (and ignored it anyway as I would refrigerate/freeze once cool and reheat to piping).

Tinned is fine...no need to worry. I dont think it's common knowledge as I doubt very many people buy them dried and soak/boil them...its a faff.

If you buy dried beans (of any sort) then there is usually a warning on the packet to say do not eat unless cooked.

There are so many things that are poisonous in our food. The vine on tomatoes, rhubarb leaves. Not cooked kidney beans, it's facinating.

Tinned ones are already cooked, that's how they're soft enough to eat. Uncooked (toxic) ones are too hard to eat.

You are right to be concerned because it is possible to be served red kidney beans that are soft enough to eat but haven't been soaked or boiled sufficiently long enough to kill off the toxins. I know this because my dh inflicted this on his family once on a self-catering holiday when serving chilli! They were all terribly ill!

In fact undercooked red kidney beans are more toxic than totally raw ones!

Tinned ones are fine though!

As for rice, you do have to be very careful but the re-heating rule usually applies to large quantities of rice (in industrial catering or restaurant settings) that are left out at room temperature for a long time, slightly warm.

Rice in small quantities that is rapidly cooled and immediately chilled and then thoroughly re-heated to piping hot temps should be fine.

More info here and here.

Not one person at your work knew that dried pulses need to be boiled?

This is my one freak-out issue. I love chilli but won't eat it when I'm out as it always has kidney beans in it. I make it with tinned baked beans instead as I was once told that kidney beans kill you immediately well maybe not, but that they're bad for you if not cooked right

I'm a perfectly easy going person who even reheats rice, but I won't eat a kidney bean.

So, on that note, you are so not ring unreasonable

I have already said mine were tinned and it didn't distinguish on the sites I was looking at! As a pp said they probably assumed the same as very few bother with dried. That's terrible steady campaign! Rings a bell about rhubarb alright!

Steve you wouldn't even eat tinned ones that have been cooked under controlled conditions?

Do you eat chicken when out? Far more likely to be seriously ill from salmonella!

Gosh Stevebrucesnose!!! You won't even use tinned?!

There's nothing written on the tin

Tinned are fine. Of course they are, otherwise there'd be a lot of dead Mexicans.

absolutely fine tinned, which is why there is no warning on the tins. Perfectly safe.

dried MUST be boiled as per the instructions on the packets, or they are poisonous. Which is why there are instructions on the packets. BTW that means BOILED - if you slow cook them they must be BOILED for 10 mins first, if not boil for 90 mins. All on the packet.

recently been trying dried ones but not sure it is worth the fuel.

chilli tonight at SpecialHQ, and many other nights. No-one poisoned yet.

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/pulses.aspx - nhs says tinned ones can be eaten straight away

There is definitely all the information on the packet. (as they are dried). There is no need to state this on the tin as they are already cooked.

i worry about this, only because beans are on of my kids life threatening food allergies.

we avoid, obviously.

I ate undercooked ones once. Had awful stomach ache all day and then was sick as the proverbial dog all night. It didn't kill me though. As everyone says, tinned are fine. Dried are a faff.

You have to cook them (from raw) for way more than 15 minutes to make them edible anyway.