All About My Lupini


I thought these beans looked interesting, so like so many innocents before me, I bought them, only to find out that cooking lupini is a multi-week process. But I'm not a quitter, so I will conquer this bean.

The first step was to soak the beans. Before I knew about their special super powers (alkaloids) I had soaked them overnight in salt, as I do all my beans. Then I found out this was not nearly enough to overcome the fearsome power of the lupini.

So today I am boiling them for a few hours, then I will put them in my fridge for a few weeks of soaking- until the bitterness goes away, and the soaking water is no longer yellow. I will be changing the water every day, as per all the directions I have seen for the lupini. I hope to (finally) use these as a snack in my kids' lunches. I will flavor them with olive oil and vinegar and fresh parseley, when they are finally done.

I guess you could say these are one of the ultimate slow foods.

Comments

  1. Lupini beans are truly a labor of love and the ultimate slow food, Madame Pangloss. They would make a great lunch for your kids. I found that adding a little apple cider vinegar to them after they are done, along with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and parsley, sweetens them up and makes them even more scrumptious.

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  2. I'm so glad to hear that! I used some vinegar while I boiled them, thinking it might help overcome the alkaloids a little faster- but I've no idea if it worked.

    Your blog was such a help, and I posted a link to your lupini post on my Facebook page- though I am not sure any of my friends will be wanting to try cooking lupini after they read about it :-) The preparation process is a bit daunting.

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  3. Here's a neat little story- my mom tells me new brides in Italy were given these beans as a gag gift. If they had grown up in a house where the beans were common they would put them in a stream to soak for a few weeks; if they didn't know about the beans, they would serve their new husband a really horrible dinner :-)

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