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Questions tagged [soaking]

Soaking refers to submerging foods in water for a certain amount of time. This process can be used for hydrating dry grains and seeds or to remove excess salt from preserved meats, for example.

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Why should I soak beans before cooking?

Every recipe says I should soak beans in water overnight before cooking. Why? I did some experiments. I have tried soaked and unsoaked beans from the same batch. There was no difference in cooking time, taste, structure or color. Even farts were the…
Fczbkk
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Why drain soaked rice?

When cooking black rice, I’ve been told I need to soak it for a few hours, then drain and finally cook with 1:3 parts regular rice (i.e., topped up with fresh water). Black rice is a type of glutinous rice, so I can understand the soaking stage.…
Xophmeister
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How does adding baking soda to soaking beans/lentils reduce the gas they make you have?

I've heard a few times that adding a pinch of baking soda to the water you use to soak beans/lentils in, reduces the gas it makes you have. I've not do any measured experiments myself, but I have anecdotal evidence it does help. But what's the…
notthetup
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Is it normal for the Chickpeas to develop white froth after being soaked for 12 hours?

Yesterday at 08:00 I had soaked white Chickpeas in water and left the container in the kitchen. Daytime temperature here is 44C. At 20:00 the same day I saw the container covered by white froth. Is it normal for the Chickpeas to develop white froth…
Aquarius_Girl
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How long can I store soaked beans before cooking?

I've soaked some beans in room temperature water overnight, since 6pm (white navy beans). How long can I keep them in water before I must use them? Will they last a day or so at room temperature and in water, or should I drain and store in the…
SarahVV
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Why are beans I soak myself always smaller than canned?

I've taken to buying bags of dried garbanzo beans instead of canned, however, no matter how long I soak them, they never expand to be as large as the canned, pre-cooked variety. This means when I try to roast them according to most of the recipes I…
Melissa
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How can oak leaves be made edible?

Based on some research, it seems the leaves contain tannins and so I imagine some number of rounds of boiling are required to extract those/reduce them to an acceptable level. But the texture of oak leaves isn't ideal for eating based on what I…
Sidharth Ghoshal
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Why won't my beans soften?

I have an old jar of 9 bean soup mix which is basically dried beans. In order to cook them, they must first be softened and according to some prior research a few methods exist, though the most common method is to soak the beans over night. I have…
Klik
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Cooking beans with intact skins

When my grandmother would cook dry beans, she always soaked them overnight, and they came out "perfect" in the sense I liked, which was that the beans were soft, and in particular, the skins were unbroken in the process. The beans remained whole…
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Are some dried beans drier than others?

I buy dried chickpeas to make hummus, and since I don't use tahini or oil, the softness of the beans is important. I typically quick-soak a cup of dried chickpeas with 1/4 tsp baking soda (bring them to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, then let sit for…
Melissa
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Should dry beans be washed before soaking?

When making dried beans, generally I wash the beans, then soak them, then drain&rinse, then cook. I realized today that I started my soak without the prior wash (by accident), and then realized it shouldn't matter; after all, I am going to…
TJ Ellis
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Soak clams with cornmeal: yes or no?

Many cook books advise that fresh clams should be soaked in salt water with a bit of corn meal added. The purpose is that the clams will consume the corn meal, thereby cleansing their gut of sand. However, I've seen it said elsewhere that this is…
Carey Gregory
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Is 3 days too long to soak dried fruit for my fruitcake?

My fruitcake recipe calls for soaking dried fruit in molasses and wine overnight. I mixed that up and it's macerating in the fridge, but a surprise schedule change means I won't get it into a cake for another two days (a total of 72 hours of…
Erica
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Why is soaking water usually discarded when making plant milk?

Most recipes that I see for soy and nut milks ask you to soak the seeds and discard the soaking water. The only plant milk recipe I've used that keeps the soaking water (Scratch Soy Milk by Andrea Nguyen) turns out just fine. I've also experimented…
Porcupine
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How long should chia seeds soak?

I am new to use chia seeds. I soaked them in water for about an hour and there was no significant difference in the size. As per websites it could grow like 12 times the original size. How much time does it need to be at its maximum size?
Shan
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