A drop of vinegar in your bean soup. (2024)

FAQs

Why do people put vinegar in their bean soup? ›

If you think about it, vinegar is really a flavor-enhancer (umami). That's why it is so often used in cooking, sauces, and salad dressings. The same is true with soups.

An added tbsp of vinegar in the water can also help, as can changing the water a few times [6]. Using hot water can speed the process too. Soaking can reduce the amount of oligosaccharides in them. Cook the soaked beans in fresh water (not the water they have been soaked in!)

Acids such as vinegar make hemicelluloses more stable and less soluble, which might slow down the softening of beans. So to make sure your red beans are at their creamiest, add the vinegar later in the cooking process, or just use it to season them at the table.

A dash of vinegar enhances flavor

The Kitchn concurs that vinegar is a "one ingredient" fix when your soup does not meet your taste bud's expectations. But don't overdo it. A little vinegar goes a long way. The Kitchn suggests just "half a teaspoon or more" of vinegar can punch up the flavor of your broth.

The best way to counteract vinegar if too much is put into soup is to add a sweetener, such as sugar or honey, to balance out the flavor. You can also add dairy, such as cream, milk, or yogurt, or a starch, such as potatoes, rice, or pasta, to help mellow out the acidity of the vinegar.

The baking soda helps break down some of the beans' natural gas-making sugars. I tested this while fixing one of my favorite slow cooker recipes: red beans and sausage. To degas with baking soda, add a teaspoon of baking soda to 4 quarts of water. Stir in the dried beans and bring to a boil.

"To reduce the gas caused by eating beans, you can either soak them before eating them, which helps to draw out some of the gas-producing sugars, or cook them with kombu, a seaweed that contains the enzyme glutamic acid that helps to break down raffinose," says Kunik.

If you have added too much vinegar to a recipe, you can try adding a bit of sugar or honey to help balance the acidity. You could also try diluting the vinegar by adding more of the other ingredients in the recipe.

The easiest beans to digest (therefore less likely to cause gas), according to Country Life Foods, are lentils, black eyed beans, adzuki beans and mung beans. (Click through to learn more about the amazing health benefits of mung beans.) The harder ones to digest are red kidney, soy, black and lima beans.

Bump up the flavor with tomato paste

Remember your old friend tomato paste? It's great to add into beans. Throw in a dollop or two to the aromatics once they've cooked, and sauté in the hot fat for a minute or two, just to cook out the tinny flavor. Harissa paste also works nicely for this.

Do you cook beans with lid on or off? ›

Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and a very gentle simmer. You should barely see the water moving. Leave the lid off for firm beans meant for cold salads and pasta dishes. Cover the pot with the lid slightly ajar for creamier beans for soups, casseroles, and burritos.

Another suggested that when cooking dried beans to add a quarter cupful of apple cider vinegar to the water that they soak in overnight, then rinse them thoroughly before cooking. For those who have had issues, it may be worth a try, particularly if cooking for those who aren't heavy bean consumers.

It was delicious. Bean soup is exactly the kind of dish most likely to need perking up from vinegar. Citrus juice works also, but vinegar really adds a special something to starchy beans.

Vinegar, much like salt, is a flavor enhancer — it not only imparts its own taste and acidity to a soup, but in small quantities, it helps to bring out the brightness of other ingredients as well.

If your dinner has become too vinegary or sour the problem is acid and this brings a unique solution. Alkalis. If your dinner, especially a soup or stew, has too much acid you can simply add a little bicarbonate soda.

Remove the beans from the oven and stir in a splash of apple cider vinegar. This helps cut through the sweetness and intensity of the molasses. The apple cider baked beans will continue to thicken as they cool, so allow them to sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.

But another indispensable bone broth ingredient comes in the form of vinegar, typically apple cider vinegar. You need this, not only for its slight acidic bite, but also to help extract the collagen and nutrients from the bones which give bone broth its richness and depth of flavor.

Sprinkle in some baking soda

As it turns out, baking soda significantly decreases the levels of raffinose, the gas-causing sugar present in beans. When should you add baking soda to beans? It works best with just a pinch (about 1/16 of a teaspoon) sprinkled into dried beans while they soak in water before cooking.

To brighten the flavour of the earthy lentils feel free to add a teaspoon (5 mL) or so of your favourite vinegar to the works, but only after the lentils are cooked. If the vinegar is added before cooking it will toughen the lentils' skin and they will never soften.