Garbanzo Beans from SCRATCH!!??

Yes!!! YOU can DO IT!!!

Making beans from scratch is not as difficult as you might think. Despite the numerous, cumbersome methods I’ve seen on other cooking experts websites, it does NOT have to take two days, or even an ENTIRE day, to make beans from scratch.

In fact, making beans from scratch is sooooooooo EASY, I do it in my sleep…LITERALLY!!!

You DO NOT have to pre-soak your beans. Soaking may help decrease the presence of OLIGOSACCHARIDES: a type of carbohydrate which can only be partially digested by humans. Because these oligosaccharides can only be “partially” digested, the part that is not digested ends being food for your GOOD GUT BUGS. The fact that beans cause gas for some, is really an indication that your GUT BUGS are eating and digesting the oligosaccharides. And in the digestive process, the GUT BUGS produce Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA), which are LIFE SAVERS.

SCFA’s may help keep your digestive tract “healthy.” They may help decrease inflammation, prevent certain cancers, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. SCFA’s have been shown to help decrease the prevalence of obesity by sending signals to the part of the brain that controls appetite. When your GUT BUGS produce SCFA’s the brain gets the message that both you & your “friends” have been fed and you will want to stop eating. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what beans can do for you.

Soaking beans does increase the bio-availability of Zinc but not significantly for IRON. Other nutrients, vitamins and minerals, are not significantly affected when you opt to NOT soak. Fiber, Protein & other PROTECTIVE Antioxidants remain unchanged in all instances.

The only thing that really affects the WONDERFUL, powerful BEAN Nutrition is…WAIT for IT……..

NOT EATING BEANS!!!

Soaking is a HUGE Deterrent to many would-be-bean-eaters…So, I’m here to make MAKING BEANs from SCRATCH, less daunting & off-putting by doing away with pre-soaking.

To start though, you must first Purchase some dried GARBANZO beans…

Here are some simple options:

SEARCH On-LINE!

Since you’re reading this blog entry, I can assume you are already on-line.
Find a BULK buying website.
I am Gluten-Sensitive. So I did some research to learn that there are two Certified Gluten-Free Garbanzo bean Suppliers on-line.
One is Nuts.com. But when I went to buy garbanzo beans, they were out of stock. Hmmm! Frustrating.
The other site is ShilohFarms.com

As for Organic Dried Beans, Eden foods offers some.

You can buy them in bulk at some of your local grocery stores. Here in Santa Monica, CA, I sometimes buy mine at the Santa Monica Co-op or at the Whole Foods in Venice. When money is tight, I’ll buy a one pound bag for $1 at the 99 cent store. I round up to $1 because the 99 cent store actually charges $0.999999… which translates to $1.

NEXT: You NEED a BIG POT which can go from stove-top to OVEN, safely!

For this is recommend either a DUTCH OVEN (not the kind your boyfriend might give you, that’s just gross). Or a DOUFEU from Le Creuset.

The DOUFEU is sold exclusively at William-Sonoma, but I bought mine at the Le Creuset outlet

Probably one of my best purchases of all times!!

If you like thrift store shopping, as I do, you may come across a Dutch Oven, OR a LARGE Cast Iron POT, at your local thrift.
Or, you can use any pot that is all metal, no plastic handles, no glass. In my video I show you an all metal pot I own which has a glass lid. I would NOT trust the glass in the oven for an extended period. So if you have a pot that has a safe base, but the lid is not oven safe, simply cover the top of the pot with aluminum foil.

I heard Rachel Ray recommend covering plastic handles with aluminum foil so that they could go safely into the oven. I tried this once with a shallow pot which I placed into the oven for under an hour. Despite the fact that I wrapped the handles in layers of foil, the handles melted. I do not recommend “trying” to make something oven safe, if it is not meant to be used in the oven. If in doubt, invest in a cast iron pot! Thrift stores rock for old cast iron finds!!!

Place the beans in the pot.
If you bought a one pound bag of beans, it will yield two cups of dried beans. Place the beans in the pot and cover by FOUR inches with water, or, if you prefer to measure, add FOUR cups of water for each ONE cup of beans.
That means you add EIGHT cups of water for a ONE pound bag of beans.

Place the Pot on a burner set on high heat & bring to a boil.

While the beans are coming to a boil, pre-heat the oven at 250 degrees if you plan to sleep SIX hours, or set the oven for 225 degrees if you are an EIGHT hour sleeper. You might even set the oven for 200 if you’re a “snoozer.” But make sure to leave yourself some kind of WARNING, so you don’t walk out the door for work without first taking the beans out of the oven.

When I want to make sure to do something in the morning, I put a note either on my bathroom mirror, or on the front door right above the handle. So I will be CERTAIN to see it on my way out.

If you don’t have time to DEAL WITH the beans before you leave for work, at least drain them and throw them into a big bowl that will fit in your fridge. Then when you come home after work, you can separate them into storage containers. Label the containers with the item name & date prepared. The beans will be good for 3-4 days in your fridge and up to THREE Months in the Freezer.

You might want to store them in 16 ounce containers which will hold 3 cups of cooked beans.
I use 32 ounce Fage (Fa-ya) Yogurt containers, which hold 6 cups of beans, because I invariably find ways to incorporate my garbanzos into several recipes. I typically give away at least half of my recipes because, after all, how many garbanzos can you eat in a week????

The world may never know…