excess water, let them stand for an hour, then
discard the soaking water and start the
cooking with fresh water. This does leach out
most of the water-soluble oligosaccharides —
but it also leaches out significant quantities of
water-soluble vitamins, minerals, simple
sugars, and seed-coat pigments: that is,
nutrients, flavor, color, and antioxidants.
That’s a high price to pay. An alternative is
simple prolonged cooking, which helps by
eventually breaking down much of the
oligosaccharides and cell-wall cements into
digestible single sugars. Oligosaccharides are
also consumed by the bean during
germination, and consumed by microbes
during fermentation: so sprouts, miso, and soy
sauce, as well as extracts like bean curd, are
less offensive than whole beans.
Bean Flavor
Beans owe their typical beany flavor to a large