Raw Greenbeans

Ridgerunner

Garden Master
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
8,229
Reaction score
10,062
Points
397
Location
Southeast Louisiana Zone 9A
Many types of beans contain a class of proteins called lectins. These proteins have the ability to interfere with the cell membrane repair process that occurs as a part of digestion. If not destroyed by cooking, lectins can cause a severe form of food poisoning, with attendant nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

I got the above about dried beans. Red kidney beans are the worse. Lectin is destroyed by cooking the beans at a high temperature for a long time. I think soaking them and draining the water gets rid of a lot of them too, but Im not sure about that. Dried beans should always be well cooked at a high temperature. I dont know how much youd have to eat for them to be a danger.

But youre talking about green beans, not dried beans. Green beans dont have much actual bean in them so they are not going to have much lectin. When you cook green beans you dont cook them long enough to destroy lectin anyway, and practically all of us eat green beans. I just dont see any risk in eating raw green beans as far as lectin goes. And Im not aware of any other risk.
 
Top