Harmful Beans Softening Agents to Avoid

Beans, irrespective of their variants are the favourites of African mothers.

They have perfected the art of cooking and serving them in different forms alongside side meals like custard, pap, rice, yam, plantain, potatoes, etc.

Beans are very rich in protein and have been the best food for some young and old people. It is believed but not yet proven to help accelerate growth in children while some believe that a serving a day could cover the traditional 3-square meals.

Cooking a pot of beans, no matter the quantity, takes a long time unlike other staple foods like rice, yam, potatoes, etc.

The implication is also that it consumes a lot of electricity, charcoal, kerosene or domestic gas, depending on the method a cook choosed. For this reason, cooks apply artificial softeners like potash, carpenter’s nails or paracetamol.

Unfortunately, some of these additions are very harmful and can damage vital organs of the human body.

It is recommended that these additions are avoided and instead, invest the resources into the preparation by adhering to the regular method to save lives.

Those who cook their meals with dangerous ingredients are not only k!lling their body organs gradually but also k!lling that of those who share in the meals. Like people eating in the canteen, local eatery, even those husbands and children who eat a meal prepared by their mother/wife with dangerous ingredients are at risk.

Potash and Paracetamol are mostly used by Nigerians in cooking beans. This can damage your liver, a vital organ of the body. When the liver is damaged the body is unable to neutralize the effect of salt taken in.

Potash and Paracetamol are poisonous chemical substances, though paracetamol is a useful drug. However, when heated its chemical content becomes poisonous and dangerous to the body.

Other harmful cooking methods:

There are also reports that some cooks add detergent to boiling eggs. Sadly, if this comes in contact with broken eggs, it becomes dangerous to vital organs of the body like the liver, kidney, heart and blood.

These wrong methods of cooking have resulted in loss of lives, and some are having one medical problem or the other. To avoid this, the pressure cooker is recommended.

This makes a meal like beans cook faster, saves energy and time. For those who can’t afford a pressure cooker, it is wiser to wait patiently for your food to soften on its own without adding any dangerous ingredients that put your life at risk.