Eat More Beans, Fart Less

Brown, black, white, lima, soy or kidney beans, lentils, borlotti or brown Dutch beans: beans are incredibly healthy, great meat substitutes and we should really be eating a lot more of them. If only it weren’t for the gas…

Let’s not be coy about it: eating beans makes you fart, which often leads to awkward situations. Whether you’re a star at silent murderers or have trumpet intestines that are completely odor-free. Flatulence is uncomfortable, both for you and those around you. But don’t worry! There are tricks to calm your windiness:

Not canned

The ‘fart-inducing substances’ in beans are oligosaccharides. And guess what? You can simply boil them out! That’s why it’s most convenient to choose dried beans instead of canned beans. A little more hassle, but also cheaper, easier to portion and longer-lasting. Still opting for canned beans? At least rinse them thoroughly first—it already makes quite a difference.

Soaking

It’s best to soak dried beans overnight (for at least 8 hours) before cooking them. If we’re to believe Crescent Dragonwagon, author of the bestseller Bean to Bean, a ratio of 9 parts water to 1 part beans works best. Soaking reduces the number of oligosaccharides and ensures that your body absorbs the vitamins and minerals in the beans more effectively. Win-win.

Rinse, boil, rinse, boil

According to Dragonwagon’s ‘degassing method’, you should rinse the beans thoroughly after soaking and then boil them for half an hour (again using a 9-to-1 ratio). After that half hour, change the water (again in the same ratio) and cook the beans until tender. It’s a bit sacrilegious, but if you want to binge on beans with (practically) no farting, you’d be wise to throw away the cooking liquid.

Herbs and seaweed

It hasn’t been scientifically proven, but some people claim that seaweed such as kombu and kelp, and herbs such as fenugreek, cumin and ginger, make beans easier to digest. So you could add them while cooking, under the motto ‘if it doesn’t help, it won’t hurt’.

Training

How well it works varies from person to person, but practice makes (gas-free) perfect: the more beans you eat, the more your intestines will get used to them. Doesn’t that work? Then it’s your nose (and that of those around you) that will simply have to get used to it, right?