Martha Seagoe:
>Hi Ric and everybody,
>Recently I read somewhere that high levels of saponin exist on beans
>and is destroyed when cooked.  Is this the toxic antidigestant, do you
>think, or would this be a separate issue?
>One of my favorite snacks is raw string beans.  But several months ago
>someone on another list was talking about the people on still another
>list(organic gardening aficionados) debating whether string beans should
>be eaten raw because of the toxins.  At the time I didn't ask for
>details.  I think I was in a place back then where I just didn't really want
>to know. So, does anybody have any more specific info on this?  Are
>raw string beans bad news?  What about peas (not beans but closely related)?

I think that the saponin is a separate issue.  Legumes do supposedly have
some mildly toxic substances that might suggest they not be eaten at
every meal.  But destroying the whole bean by cooking it in order to
inactivate its saponin is like pasteurizing milk to destroy the bacteria
in it.  Destroying one toxin by creating thousands of new ones is not a
smart idea.  I'd suggest eating them raw (occasionally), sprouted or
soaked overnight and rinsed, or not at all.