42 BULLETIN 123, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



products, but the older they are the harder it is to make them pala- 

 table and soft, and the longer the processes of soaking and cooking. 



The long soaking of these dried seeds is an important factor in their 

 cookery. It took a long time for the seeds to ripen and dry in the pod 

 on the vine and they lose rather than gain water in the store and house. 

 Therefore it is reasonable that considerable time should be required 

 to fill out the cells of such a dense substance with water. Except when 

 the weather is warm and there is danger of fermentation, beans, 

 lentils, etc., may be profitably soaked for even 48 hours. Pick over, 

 wash well, and add 1 quart of water for 1 cup of beans, and set in 

 the refrigerator or other cold place. Soaking helps to remove any 

 rank flavor. 



After this complete filling of the tissues with water the time re- 

 quired for cooking will not be much longer than for shelled beans 

 fresh from the garden. True, there has been some loss of substance, 

 but a corresponding gain in palatability. If the soaking is not so 

 thorough, the cooking must be continued longer. The use of bicar- 

 bonate of soda in the preparation of legumes is often decried, and it 

 certainly should be employed with moderation, nevertheless it serves 

 a useful purpose in making the skins more tender, and probably also 

 forms new combinations with or neutralizes substances which tend to 

 produce indigestion or flatulence. 



Soft water is far better than hard for both soaking and cooking 

 dried legumes. By " hard " water is meant water impregnated with 

 various salts, as lime and magnesia salts which it may have gained 

 from the rocks and soil over which it passed before it reached the 

 place from which it was drawn or piped. These salts unite with the 

 legumin (a form of protein) contained in the seeds to form insoluble 

 compounds ; and consequently portions of the vegetable remain hard, 

 .no matter how long they are cooked. 



The question then arises, What is to be done when the only water 

 obtainable for cooking is hard water? In most books on cookery it 

 is advised to add to the water in which peas and beans are cooked a 

 small quantity of baking soda, a teaspoonful to the gallon. If the 

 hardness is due to calcium carbonate, the soda will remedy it for 

 cooking purposes. Just why it is not easy to say. Peas and beans 

 cooked in this water are indeed easily softened, but experiment shows 

 that the flavor may be injured. If soda is added, it is better to boil 

 the water before using. But since the cook has generally no means 

 of knowing the degree of hardness of the water and thus the exact 

 proportion of soda to be added, it is perhaps better simply to boil 

 the water before using and pour it from the sediment. When the 

 hardness is due to the presence of the sulphate of lime or magnesia, 

 neither boiling nor the addition of soda will avail to make the water 

 desirable for cooking legumes. It is often possible to use rain water 



