fudge wrote:

> The older the beans, the longer it takes to soften them up for cooking. I
> have never heard of any type of dried beans commonly used for human
> consumption containing any poisons. Soaking to get rid of poisons sounds
> like an old wives tale. Perhaps you should get a new girlfriend, this one
> seems to be full of faecal mater.

Actually, lima and other beans contain toxins and other things that can
be harmful (hemaglutinins, trypsin inhibitors, etc., q.v.), and fava
beans can trigger "favism" (G6PD enzyme deficiency) in some people.
Research time...

Soaking is one way to minimize toxins.

And, as today's little know fact: Cicero, Roman heavyweight politician,
orator, statesman and stuff, has a name that means garbanzo bean. Well,
it really means chick pea from the Latin "cicer," but garbanzo sounds so
much cooler.

Pastorio