How to Avoid White Bean Poisoning?
My family loves beans, not the kidney but the white variety. We cook it with different cuts of pork, like chops, belly, loin or ribs flavored further with ham, bacon or sausages sauteed in olive oil, garlic, shallots and tomato sauce. Our bean recipe is further enhanced by the rich addition of cabbage (red) or chinese cabbage or what is locally known as pechay. Beans can be rich in protein and could be a good substitute to pork. This means that you can have this dish with less pork and just enough to save on the food budget. But did you know that improper way of cooking beans can prove toxic? Toxic enough to cause food poisoning? "Poisoning can be induced from as few as five raw beans and symptoms occur within three hours, beginning with nausea then vomiting which can be severe and sustained (profuse), then diarrhea. Recovery occurs within four or five hours of onset, usually without the need for any medical intervention". Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA, or phytohema...
