1998 Volume 49 Issue 9 Pages 993-1001
Many homes are now being provided with domestic water-softeners to supply soft water. Soft water has a pleasant taste for drinking and is more favorable than hard water for cooking rice and beans, and for brewing coffee.
We investigated the properties and texture of two kinds of cooked bean, adzuki and soybean, which have different compositions. The effects on cooking of water processed in a water softener (“soft water”) and of untreated tap water was examined. The effect of pressure cooking to prevent collapse of the cooked beans was also studied.
Adzuki beans had to be cooked appropriately according to their subsequent use : for bean-paste, adzuki could be cooked either under pressure or in a normal atmosphere and it was desirable to use soft water to rapidly soften the beans. Cooking in soft water under pressure prevented collapse of the beans and promoted a favorable color in the cooked beans. Soybeans were softened alittle more rapidly in the initial stage of cooking when soft water was used, but there was little overall difference in effect between soft water and tap water used for cooking. However, the hardness of raw soybean could be most effectively removed by cooking the beans in soft water under pressure so that soft and swollen beans were finally obtained.
