# Can you over-soak beans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172 "2003-08-05T19:00:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aka\_10003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@aka\_10003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aka_10003)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/1 "2003-08-05T19:00:56Z")
I tend to start soaking my dry beans early, up to 48 hours before cooking it. I do change the water several times a day. I have noticed that, especially in small beans such as mung and lentils, the taste become a bit chalky. What is the reason for that change? Also – how do you make these beans sprout? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/2 "2003-08-05T19:59:30Z")
There is no reason to soak lentils at all, AFAICS, and 48 hours is ridiculously long. 6-8 hours will do for most beans; and changing the water is not necessary if you rinse them first. I’ve never heard of beans turning chalky from oversoaking, but you might be tasting fermentation products, as that’s a frequent result of oversoaking. You can learn about sprouting beans here: [http://www.jasonunbound.com/sprouts.html](http://www.jasonunbound.com/sprouts.html) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/3 "2003-08-05T23:22:50Z")
I soak lentils for an hour or two at the most, and that’s always been accurate. The only danger of oversoaking (presuming that you rinse frequently enough to avoid fermentation) is that the beans can sprout. I’m not sure that this is a bad thing, but who knows? It may contribute to a chalkiness, if the food in the seed has begun to be metabolized; presumabley it undergoes SOME sort of chemical change. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/4 "2003-08-06T00:55:24Z")
Previous posters have affirmed that soaking your beans for inordinate amounts of time are counterproductive if anything. Rick Bayliss, the best writer/cook on Mexican food today, suggests that soaking beans in general is not necessary. At all. Just an old wives tale. ---
**Author:** ![herman\_and\_bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f1d935/32.png) [@herman\_and\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/herman_and_bill)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/5 "2003-08-06T00:59:12Z")
I don’t soak soup beans at all, just in the kittle for a couple hours or so… ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/6 "2003-08-06T07:53:32Z")
I use a pressure cooker and do not soak lentils at all. Chick peas and beans I soak overnight. I cannot see any need or benefit from soaking longer but, if you do, you should do it in the refrigerator. Not a good idea to have beans soaking at room temperature for days. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/7 "2003-08-06T10:25:33Z")
\*\*The farther from harvesting the chalkier or less firm they become. Does not affect nutrition. \*\* [/QUOTE] You mean “old beans,” right? We buy beans every three to four months (huge bags). Near the end of that time, they don’t get chalky and they certainly don’t get less firm. Instead they get more chewy and harder to break down. I don’t like that so much, so I guess I’ll consider buying fewer beans. But… I thought the point of dry-goods was that they’d last a long, long, long time? I rather like the idea of buying enough beans or rice to last a _year_, but it doesn’t look possible? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/8 "2003-08-06T10:39:06Z")
Beans are seeds (obviously) - in most cases, a seed is expecting to lay dormant for no more than the time between the end of one growing season and the start of the next, but storage conditions (temperature, light, humidity) will greatly affect the effective storage life. Of course germination viability and suitability for the table are not _exactly_ the same thing, they are quite closely related - if you were able to emulate the sort of conditions that seed banks employ, you could probably store your beans for decades without significant degradation, less so rice, which is usually bought as a processed grain. But that is probably a sledgehammer to crack a nut. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/9 "2003-08-06T14:21:50Z")
Overly long soaking will often end up in fermentation, by bacteria and/or fungi–generally of random selection. Even if it’s done in a refrigerator, even if you boil them at the beginning of the soak (some bacteria form spores that resuscitate after a fairly short boil). Sometimes, this can be a good thing. Sometimes, it is not. It’s a crap shoot. Moral: Don’t over-soak. Other Moral: Lentils never need soaking. Just wash them. They’re so thin that they cook up nice without a soak. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/10 "2003-08-06T15:01:29Z")
If you permit a slight hijack: can you pre-soak regular rice to speed up the cooking time? I’m thinking of camping trips, as in, add the rice to water in the a.m., and then have it cook in only 5-10 minutes on the campfire that evening. (I hate ‘minute’ type rices.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/11 "2003-08-06T15:34:01Z")
You have to be careful with rice as it is the favoured growth medium for Bacillus Cereus, which causes severe food poisoning; although all the warnings usually talk about safe storage of rice that has been cooked, I think it is at least possible that you could run into trouble soaking uncooked rice at room temp or above for a whole day. The shortened cooking time at the end only makes me more concerned as it is _thorough_ cooking that is usually recommended to kill bacteria and destroy the toxins they may have created. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/12 "2003-08-06T16:29:43Z")
Soaking rice overnight in the refrigerator improves the texture, but does not decrease the cooking time. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/13 "2003-08-06T16:38:13Z")
My wife soaks a 1/3 of a coffee cup of rice in a coffee cup. I don’t know how long, but not overnight. It fills the cup when it’s ready, and then makes an entire pan of rice. Kinda neat since all I’d ever know before was minute-style rice. So, this pre-soak doesn’t improve the cooking time? Doesn’t the rice have to absorb water to cook? Like pasta? ---
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-over-soak-beans/193172/14 "2003-08-06T16:45:32Z")
I have let beans soak too long and the water gets gross and there is an awful odor. beans don’t need a lot of time to soak. 4-6 hours is good. Instead of soaking my beans now I just throw them in the crockpot and simmer them all day. No more gross slimey beans!