1. Put the beans in a saucepan, covering them with 3 time their volumn in water.
2. Leave them to soak for a minimum of 4 hours and a maximum of 12 hours, in a cool place.
3. Drain the beans and discard the water (Note: cold water starts the rehydration process, but does not finish it, the beans will appear wrinkled.) They will finish rehydrating during cooking.
4. Rinse with fresh water.
5. They are ready to cook.

1. Put the beans in a large saucepan and add 4 parts of water for each part of the beans
2. Heat the saucepan until the water boils, keep it boiling for 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Remove the saucepan from the heat, cover and let the beans soak for 4 to 24 hours.
4. Drain the beans, discard the soaking water.
5. Rinse with fresh water.
6. Ready to cook.

1. Put the beans in a large saucepan and add 4 parts of water for each part of the beans.
2. Heat the saucepan until the water boils, keep it boiling for 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Remove the saucepan from the heat, cover and let the beans soak for 1 hour. “If we leave the beans in hot water for too long it could lead to a fermentation problem.”
4. Drain the beans, pour out the soaking water.
5. Rinse with fresh water.

It is an alternative to the slow soaking technique, more useful for community kitchens or when you are in a rush.

To decide the cooking time, it is necessary to consider the use that will be given to the pulses, for salads, or to freeze and use at another time, or if they are going to be cooked later in soup, in a stew, it is better that they are firm or slightly less cooked.

• Black-eyed pea from 30 minutes to 1 hour
• Kidney, Pink or White small Beans 1 to 1.5 hours
• Small Lima bean 1 hour
• Big lima bean 45 to 1 hour
• Chickpeas 1 to 1.5 hours (Start with hot water)
• Quick lentil 30 to 40 minutes
• Peeled lentil 30 minutes
• Split peas 45 minutes to 1 hour

* See cooking table, pulses soaking.

The correct method that we advise from Legumechef is the same as the traditional one. Start with cold water, and once it has started to froth, 10-15 minutes, take off the froth and we can cover to start pressure cooking

This cooking method has advantages in reducing cooking time, but entails a loss of nutrients and flavor.

Take into account the cooking times, since being covered and with pressure, we cannot test the cooking point of the pulses.

With the salt, we will do the same as the traditional method.

• Black-eyed pea from 20-25 minutes
• Kidney, Pink or White small Beans 30-40 minutes
• Small lima beans 1 hour, 30-35 minutes
• Big lima beans 35-40 minutes
• chickpeas 45 minutes (Start with hot water)
• Pardina lentils 25-30 minutes
• Peeled lentils 10-15 minutes
• Split peas 15-20 minutes

• Hydrate pulses by soaking for 12 hours
• Prepare a water bath between 80-90ºC.
• Strain the pulses and measure the cooking water, we will need 3 parts of water for 1 of pulses
• Weigh the water, and for every 100 g add  1 g of salt. ( i.e. 1% salt per weight)
• Put the pulses in a suitable cooking bag, cover with the salted water and put the bag in the water bath, holding it down with tweezers to the edge. It is not necessary to close the bags as we need to check hoe the pulses are cooking. Another option would be to use a mason jar.
• For the cooking time we estimate that we need at least 4 hours for most beans and up to 6 hours for chickpeas. We will check the texture of the pulses after 4 hours and see if they need more time.
• Once the cooking is finished, let the pulses cool in their cooking water and use ice& water to cool them down as fast as possible.

To do this, we clean the elements where we are going to germinate, as well as the seeds. A solution with hydrogen peroxide helps us clean the pulses and prepare them for germination.

Once clean, we can either semi-hydrate them or put them directly to germinate. Cover with a damp cloth and in a warm place. Over the next few days the germ will sprout. After about 3 days, they will be at their optimum point.

Now they can be semi-cooked, eaten directly or ground.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration, the agency that regulates the foods and drugs that can be marketed, recommends that children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems avoid eating vegetables, seeds and grains raw sprouts, and that if they want to do consume them it is best to cook them lightly first.

When preparing a recipe with precooked pulses, you should reduce the amounts of liquid indicated in the recipe by one third to one half.

They also withstand freezing. Freeze in an airtight container, with the cooking broth. It can be frozen for 3-5 months without losing characteristics. For defrosting, slow defrosting in the fridge is important. For storage in the freezer, they may be slightly undercooked because freezing tends to soften them

Adding a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to the soaking water can help promote digestion.

Kombu seaweed

It contains glutamic acid, softens the fibers of pulses, reduces cooking time and makes pulses more digestible. It also helpful for the digest of vegetable proteins.

Glutamic acid has a strong flavor and is the same acid that monosodium glutamate is made synthetically from. Adding about ten centimeters of this seaweed when cooking legumes is enough. At the end of cooking remove the seaweed.

Carminative Foods

A carminative is a medicine or substance that helps to reduce the generation of gases in the digestive tract and thereby reduce flatulence and colic. The effect refers to an antispasmodic effect on the smooth stomach muscles and a decreased fermentation effect in the intestinal flora.

• Plants such as ; coriander, fennel, ginger, rosemary, thyme, chamomile …
• Spices like; Nutmeg, cumin, anise …

Acid products

• Incorporating tomato, lemon juice or other acidic ingredients at the beginning of cooking can increase cooking times. Add them when the pulses are already tender.
• Some cooks find that adding salt or broth instead of water improves the flavor by receiving the salt more evenly.
• A few drops of freshly squeezed lemon towards the end of cooking helps to reduce the earthy flavor of certain varieties of lentils.
• Use about 20 grams of salt for every 500 g of dry pulse.

• Once they are hydrated, discard the water. After soaking, wash the pulses.
• Adding sodium bicarbonate improves the texture of pulses, although it limits the absorption of certain nutrients. Quantity: 1gr of Bicarbonate per liter of water
• Cook with a little bit of water and enough space.
• Cook with cold water and without salt. The salt clogs the pores of the seeds and they get hard. In the case of chickpeas, the water must always be boiling.
• If there is not any water during cooking, add hot/boiling water. The necessary to cover the pulses again.
• Rest after cooking in the water itself.
• The small boiling bubble to prevent the pulse from breaking / damaging.
• Taking off the foam during cooking (remove the foam from the surface) this way eliminating the greatest amounts of saponins is easier (indigestible components for the human body) and the texture will be improved.