42 BULLETIN 123, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
products, but the older they are the harder it is to make them pala- 
cable 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 hme 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 
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