yin yan beans

[womble]

I have some, of what are close to yin yan beans, they were given to me as panda eye beans.
I've just shelled some of the pods which had gone yellowish and they have come out lovely and yin yan ish coloured.

What I would like to know is, I am making a chilli, can I put them straight in there?

[Polly Fouracre]

Are these the beans that are also known as "Nun's Belly Buttons"? A far nicer name, I think!.

[Flummery]

You can use them just as they are in a chilli I usuallay boil them first so I know they are done, and I cook them without salt. The salt in your chillie will toughen the skins so I cook the beans separately. I also dry some for use in winter.

[womble]

Thankyou, you got the info out just too late for them to go into the chilli and I didn't want to risk it.
So let me get this straight.......... when they come out of the pod, they are sort of semi dried and you can use them straight away and then when you dry them completely, I think you wrote somewhere else, that you have to soak them over night and then boil for 20 minutes? Is that right.

[Two_Sheds]

As with all dried* kidney beans (yin yang is a type of kidney bean), you need to soak them 8+ hours, then boil hard for ten mins, then simmer for an hour before you eat them.
* they're dried if the pods have turned yellow & crispy.

If the pods are still green & soft, the yin yangs will be green too, with just a pink tinge...not "yin yang" looking at all... at this stage they are flageolet (unripe) beans, and you only need boil them for 20 mins (no soaking first)

[Two_Sheds]

when they come out of the pod, they are sort of semi dried and you can use them straight away

you can't eat any French bean, in any form (whole or just beans) straight away ... they all contain a toxin which needs to be boiled off. 10-20 mins.

[hawthorns]

i ve harvested my ying yang beans and they went straight into the freezer.

[womble]

you can't eat any French bean, in any form (whole or just beans) straight away ... they all contain a toxin which needs to be boiled off. 10-20 mins.

What about the water you boil beans in, is that toxic? Obviously there is alot more to this than I assumed.

So should I always boil beans seperately before adding them to sauces? I normally just chuck them in raw. I'm talking about the whole green french beans now. This is my first attempt to grow beans for drying.

[Flummery]

No problem with chucking them in raw. I just like to make sure they are not still a bit hard (they can be if under-done) and I don't like them to have tough skins so I do them without salt then chuck them in. Just personal preference.

[Hilary B]

It is the heat of boiling which kills the toxins. I sometimes cheat by doing the 10 mins in the pressure cooker (to make sure it is not enough) FIRST and letting them soak in that water for a few hours (overnight is better). Boil in fresh water (20 mins in the pressure cooker is plenty). I've only ever done this with red kidney-beans bought from the shop (the ones everyone has heard about the problems with), but I can't see any reason for it not to work for dried home-grown beans. At the end of that process you can treat them like tinned-then-drained beans.