I’ve just eaten raw beans

[Robyrollover]

Pinto beans. Forgot to boil them before adding to chilli. Am I going to die?

Please scrap the chilli at this point. Apparently the toxicity depends on the darkness of the beans - so red kidney worst, haricot least worst. Pinto fall somewhere in the middle.

Pinto beans have moderate to low lectin. Most of that will have been removed when they were soaked.
Just cook the chilli until the beans are soft (about a week if you have added salt )

I have done this with a 5 bean chili. I didn’t boil anything. Some beans were pretty crunchy. We ate it. DH had leftovers for lunch. No major illnesses, maybe a slight dodgy stomach but nothing to worry about.

Will it work to cook it for longer, won’t the toxins just leak into the chilli?

Call your GP or 111 for advice.

Pinto beans are from the same family as kidney beans (as are black beans and navy beans): Phaseolus vulgaris. This species contains a lectin called phytohemagglutinin (PHA). The more PHA you ingest, the more ill you will become.

Heat breaks the toxins down.

No wonder people eat so few homemade bean dishes.

Do not continue to cook the chilli in the hope that it will get rid of the toxins, it doesn't work like that.

However, you're not going to die (probably) from a few mouthfuls.

Cancel the damn cheque OP.

Apparently its more likely to cause a tummy upset than anything else.

I’ve put the chilli on to boil - will that not work then?

Just throw it out, go to your nearest pharmacist and ask for advice there.

There may be a high wind tonight

Many bean recipes use soaked beans that cook with the dish. I've read recipes for chilli that do just this and in fact have marked one to try next I make chilli.

oh fuck the fuck off, no they are not toxic. it's perfectly fine.

utter fucking bollocks..

I had chilli with soaked but uncooked kidney beans (not out of a tin) a few years ago, the person who made it did not know how dangerous they could be.
I was very ill for a few hours, it was not pleasant.
I would not take the risk if it were me.

to be clear:

1. it is not necessary to soak pinto beans (they just take longer to cook and will absorb more liquid during the process of cooking)
2. simmering occurs at 100C, and the toxin will be deactivated in around 10 minutes

The only time you need to worry is if you are using a slow cooker, because they are not hot enough to detoxify.

What you have here is simply beans that need a bit longer to absorb more water (try adding more water and cooking for 30 minutes) and become soft. But they are not in any way whatsoever toxic.

also you can't compare pinto beans to kidney beans, kidney beans are the worst.

I’ve rapid boiled it for 10 minutes, will now simmer for half hour or so. That should destroy the toxins surely?

I can’t bare to chuck it. Spent ages on it

Hmm, why wouldn't simmering/boiling the chilli work? When you make a bean soup you eat the stock the beans were cooked in, so there's no reason for the chilli to be toxic if you cook it for 30 or so minutes.

Chuck it out!

Thank you hammington

You don't eat the stock the beans are cooked in - you throw it out!

As you can see from this graph lectin denatures VERY quickly at even 85C, let alone 100C.

ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0260877414002490-gr3.jpg

Beans are small, so it really won't take long in a ~100C liquid for the toxin to denature.

Must admit - I was ready to chuck the towel in on Veganuary

Actually I'm probably not the best person to comment on things like this.

I'm so gung ho about soaking beans for a few hours that I would have been dead years ago if it was a grave threat.

You said upthread they were soaked first, right?