Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Chrispy on September 26, 2009, 14:09:07
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Hi all,
My OH eats runner beans, lots of them, every day, raw, she loves them and has eaten them raw ever since she was a child.
I never gave it another thought, until I saw on a seed website, a small mention advising that they should be cooked, otherwise they may upset your stomach.
So I had a look on Wiki, and it says Runner beans contain traces of a poisonous lectin, Phytohaemagglutinin, and hence must be thoroughly cooked before consumption.
, so I am a bit concerned.
Reading a bit more, as far as I can tell, the only problem may be an upset stomach, and she does not seem to have any problems when eating beans, so it does not seem to be a problem, but I would be interested to hear from any of you who know more about this.
Cheers C
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i eat my runner right off the plant and ive never had an upset stomach, i think you have to soak the dried beans for 24hrs to remove any toxins tho.
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well Wiki says it all I think. 5 beans! Interesting if you undercook them like in a casserole, they can actually become even more poisonous. 1 bean! Surely not
I always cook beans separately and then add them later, and I don't anymore cook a mixture of beans at the same time
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I thought it was the beans that are poisonous, is this a problem when you eat the tender young green pods?
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well we do seem to get outbreaks of poisoning from beans every now and then in the UK according to the internet, and undercooked beans are more toxic than raw ones, and soaked ones are more toxic than dried ones. I suppose soaking and (under)cooking makes them more digestible without denaturing the lectin, so you get bigger dose.........
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The mature beans are if you eat them raw, and in quantity! This may be of interest -
http://www.rhs.org.uk/growyourown/nigel_runnerbeans.asp
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that's just it Flighty - according to wiki etc, it's not *in quantity* 1undercooked bean is all it takes (apparently)
I bet the number of people who eat runner beans in any form is quite small, and entirely confined to people like us. When I didn't have a garden I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole in Tesco's, cus I was used to getting them for nothing, and i've never used runner bean beans. Oops apart from the big white ones. And i've had them quite crunchy too (undersoaked, but hopefully not undercooked......
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it might also just be possible that since she has been eating them this way from childhood she may have built up some form of immunity or resistance to the toxins (she may have even been born with the ability to cope with this particular toxin).
i know back home for the amt of beans/ legumes we eat we don't go around f**ting all the time :-X, so i would assume that as a populace we have built up a better tolerance to the beans wind producing attributes.
so like i said she may have been born with the ability to deal with the beans toxins, you on the other hand might try it and end up with a sore tummy and the runs :-X.
just a thought :-\.
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i am always eating them straight of the plant and dont seem to have any upsets
so maybe it is in large amounts. must say first i have heard of it.
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If they are poisonous then we should all be dead by now.
I do not think I am do you? ;D ;D ;D ;D
I love them to bits raw or cooked
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Don't eat the roots!
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Mrs Stick eats them straight off the plant and so far with no ill effects. I'd heard french beans should be cooked but not runners
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I've munched beans (runners and french) off the plant since I was small. I prefer most veg raw anyway (you could tell when I had been to the allotment - pea pods strewn alongside the rows!!).
We are all going to die, just hope it is later rather than sooner!
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I can't find the levels of haemagglutinin in runner beans, but the following table from a paper on the subject of haemagglutinin poisoning from the British Medical Journal is interesting, and is, I think, the primary source of most references on the subject.
TABLE II-Lectin content of legumes. (Haemagglutinin units x 103/g dry weight of sample)
Raw Soaked
Red kidney beans 53 18
White kidney beans 17 14
Broad beans 3 3
This paper (Noah et al. 1980. Br. Med. J. 19 July, 236-7) actually measured the levels of the substance in various types of bean. It's not a huge evidence base, but it does suggest that kidney beans, especially the red ones, are the danger. And remember that these are dried beans, not the fresh immature beans that we eat when we eat runner beans.
All of the cases of bean poisoning that had been reported in the UK at that time related to red kidney beans. None to cannellini beans, in spite of their relatively high haemagglutinin levels.
This paper is also the original source of the "as few as 4 or 5 beans can poison you" story. I'll quote the description of the incident:
The smallest recorded "dose" to produce symptoms was four or five raw soaked beans (incident 2). In this episode, one other person developed symptoms after eating beans casseroled with meat and vegetables in an oven at 150-160°C for three hours, whereas two others who ate only meat and vegetables from the casserole did not.
Given that the description of what happened is gleaned from the victims, presumably including the cook, after the event, I'd be very suspicious of the details of the story!
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Melbourne,
I heard that the Red Kidney bean was not good for you unless it was cooked.
As to the others not so sure. Chefs at where I used to work have all stated the red one is the only one they were wary of.
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Melbourne,
I heard that the Red Kidney bean was not good for you unless it was cooked.
As to the others not so sure. Chefs at where I used to work have all stated the red one is the only one they were wary of.
I think that's exactly right. I would quite cheerfully eat raw or undercooked green beans, both French and runner.
I suspect that many people buy their red kidney beans in a can these days, but with the dried ones, I was taught to bring them slowly to the boil in plenty of water, and immediately strain them and repeat the boil and strain before their third and final soak.
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Hi all,
Thanks for all the replies, with so many people eating raw beans, can't be much a problem, and longs as they are small and green, and I get so moaned at if one bean gets too big, I don't think that's a problem.
Incidentally, I think it was a pack of T&M seeds is where I first read that they needed to be cooked, that made me ask the question.
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I eat beans in all forms, I am quite partial to the uncooked mature bean straight from the pod, I eat French beans raw all the time, in huge quantities. I have never had as much as bad wind. All that said and done, I do not eat that many red kidney beans, they are not the best bean in my opinion, so I don't bother with them much.
All this is anecdotal of course.
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Hi folks! I came across your forum whilst looking for info on raw runner beans.
At 3:30 this afternoon, my wife and I were in the allotment, eating raw runner beans straight from the plant. We have two varieties, one with white beans, the other being pink with black markings. These beans are mature, with a lot of them already turned brown; we only ate the ones that were still green.
By 7pm I was projectile vomiting, and you really don't want to know what was happening at the other end at the same time. This lasted about 3 hours, every minute of which I either thought I was going to die, or wished I could. By 11pm, the vomiting had stopped and the stomach cramps were subsiding. 11:15 and my wife got home from singing practice complaining of bed stomach ache, as she flew up the stairs 3 at a time. Over 2 hours later, I'm sat here getting some fluids back inside me, whilst I listen to the constant opening and closing of the bathroom door. Luckily, my wife appears to have missed the vomiting part.
As the only thing we ate in common today was the beans, I think we can safely say they were the cause. As for the difference in the effect between us, I was eating the larger, more mature beans, whilst my wife was eating the smaller ones because they were juicier.
We've both eaten raw runner beans before with no ill effect, but always when the plant is much younger. Raw beans have now been removed from my diet. And now I must dash, I think the loud gurgling noises from my stomach are telling me to run, if you'll excuse the pun. ;)
I'll take a better look around the site when I feel more alive.
Martin.
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Are you sure that this is due to eating runner beans? Afterall you say that you have eaten them before.
Hope you are feeling better.
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I think it's too big a coincidence for it to be anything else but the beans. It's the only thing we ate in common all day, plus the onset time of around three hours and the time it lasts after that, 4/5 hours, which, if you Google around, seems to be par for the course. I found out this morning that the variety I ate most of is Scarlet runner beans.
I know you should disbelieve 95% of what you read online, and take a pinch of salt with the rest, but fromthe number of hits, it seems pretty conclusive to me. I'm not saying everyone will be affected the same, and I did make a bit of a pig of myself... :)
Yes, I have eaten them before, but always when the beans were smaller and younger, and in much smaller quantities.
Take a look at http://www.wereyouwondering.com/did-you-know-that-raw-runner-beans-are-toxic/
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oh dear wolrik, hope you're feeling better. That's sorted than out hopefully. erm, you wouldn't mind doing it again, just so we can be 100% sure? :)
hope you're next post is more positive
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Welcome to the forum wolrik, what a strange way of finding the forum!!
Hope you and the O.H. are feeling better today, and that you stick around on the forum, we are a friendly bunch (well, most of us are;) ) ;D ;D ;D
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I picked and shelled a half cullinder full of runner beans on Tuesday and had them in a sausage stew, tasted marvellous, didn't soak them before!
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Welcome to the forum wolrik, what a strange way of finding the forum!!
Hope you and the O.H. are feeling better today, and that you stick around on the forum, we are a friendly bunch (well, most of us are;) ) ;D ;D ;D
Thanks! It's mostly just tiredness today, from lack of sleep, and the aching muscles from throwing up. I've passed the forum link onto my o/h as she is the gardener, not me. It's her allotment, though if there's any digging to be done, or another shed to built/repaired, it becomes "our allotment." ;D
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I've heard that raw beans can be poisonous, but I've never come across a case.
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I've heard too that it was poisonous to eat them raw but didn't worry as I've always done it. Just the odd few.
Might mention this to my mum as she constantly munches on mine as she walks round my garden.
She's in her later 70's so I'd hate to think she might be more at risk. Doubt it tho. She's fitter than me! :-\
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I should point out, just in case isn't clear to anyone, that what we were eating wasn't the green pods, but the seeds that grow once the pods are past their best for cooking, and which really ought to have been saved to plant next year.
The culprits...
(http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk/wp-content/seedpods.jpg)
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I should point out, just in case isn't clear to anyone, that what we were eating wasn't the green pods, but the seeds that grow once the pods are past their best for cooking, and which really ought to have been saved to plant next year.
The culprits...
(http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk/wp-content/seedpods.jpg)
yes i would think that would make you ill.
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Welcome to the forum wolrik, what a strange way of finding the forum!!
Same for me!
Google sent me here from my search on "poisonous runner beans"
Clearing out the old runner beans patch I collected a lot of over grown green pods with some nice looking fat jucy beans inside. Later that evening cooked in a nice tomato sauce they tasted fantastic and I ate a LOT. Now I expected a bit of wind but not two days of stomach upset and mad dashes to the toilet, oh, and I got the wind as well. I'm a pretty tough guy when it comes to food and eating strange things but these things had me beaten!
I simmered them for half an hour with tomatoes and herbs. Perhaps they needed boiling for a week.
The culprits...
(http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/tmp/beans.jpg)
Be warned!
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welcome to Ailments For All, RogerM
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I thought that if you cook kidney beans that you needed to soak them overnight and then throw away the cooking water.
If you simmer them with the tomatoes and herbs you presumably ate the cooking water.
Pleased to hear that it seems to be the kidney beans that are the problem I can go back to nibbling the green runners raw.
Hope all you folks with stomach problems are getting better. I hope you find there are some more enjoyable things on this forum.
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Welcome to the forum wolrik, what a strange way of finding the forum!!
Same for me!
Google sent me here from my search on "poisonous runner beans"
Clearing out the old runner beans patch I collected a lot of over grown green pods with some nice looking fat jucy beans inside. Later that evening cooked in a nice tomato sauce they tasted fantastic and I ate a LOT. Now I expected a bit of wind but not two days of stomach upset and mad dashes to the toilet, oh, and I got the wind as well. I'm a pretty tough guy when it comes to food and eating strange things but these things had me beaten!
I simmered them for half an hour with tomatoes and herbs. Perhaps they needed boiling for a week.
The culprits...
(http://www.wheelpro.co.uk/tmp/beans.jpg)
Be warned!
i cook the mature runner beans fresh or dry as i would cook all my legumes in a pressure cooker: for dry at least 1hr 20 - 30 minutes and for fresh: at least 45minutes to an hour.
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the interesting point was, undercooked beans are worse than raw ones
it's not a great advertisement for allotmenteering when a few of our new members arrive here after making themselves sick as dogs after eating the food they grow themselves :)
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This might make some of you laugh. A few days ago I was cutting down and reducing the tomato foliage when somehow I managed to get a bean vine round my neck. Not a runner bean but a climbing Asian bean. This contact really stung me and I still have a noticeable rash. Felt like being garroted with a nettle.
Go on then, laugh, but you have to bear in mind that when I try to work at the far end of the tunnel I need a compass to guarantee finding the way out.
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Yep, it's definitely true. Try not to eat the seed beans raw. The phytohemagglutinin will do you in if you consume more than a handful. Fresh beans out of their pods need to be cooked through.
With dried beans, You should be even more careful. After soaking, bring them to a rolling boil and keep it there for at least 10 mins to denature whatever phytohemagglutinin is present before turning the heat down to simmer.
Not all shelled beans have large quantities of phytohemagglutinin under the skin but, having suffered once, I'll never take a chance ever again!