How Much Water Do Dry Beans Absorb

Summary

Water, absorption, seeds

Teisha Rowland, PhD, Scientific discipline Buddies

Introduction

Have you ever had black-eyed peas for New Yr's Twenty-four hours? They're frequently used as part of a traditional repast in the S on this twenty-four hour period. Stale beans themselves are a major ingredient in dishes served all over the globe. In their dried grade, they can exist stored for years and so "brought back to life" past soaking them in water. In this science activity, yous will explore how the temperature of the water used to rehydrate dried black-eyed peas (which are technically beans) affects how speedily they become rehydrated and ready to chow down on!

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Background

Beans come in dozens of shapes, sizes and colors and have been consumed throughout the world for thousands of years. They are depression in fat and are good sources of protein, carbohydrates and cobweb. The U.S. Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines suggest that beans, forth with other foods that are depression in fatty, oils and sugars (including vegetables and grains) should make up the largest portion of our daily meals.

In addition to their nutritious qualities, beans are convenient because they can exist dried and stored for years. Soaking the beans in water for a few hours (or less) softens the dried beans and prepares them for cooking. This rehydration process besides occurs in nature. Beans are a form of seed, and they tin sprout when exposed to h2o. Beans remain viable for long periods of time if they are kept dry, a feature that allows them to survive prolonged periods of drought in natural settings, and that allows u.s. to shop them for long periods of time prior to cooking. As beans soak in water, their volume increases. In this science activity, you'll determine how soaking beans in hot versus cold water affects how speedily they blot water.

Materials

Ice cubes
Bowl
Cold tap water
Hot tap h2o
I loving cup of stale blackness-eyed peas. Alternatively, dried split peas, lentils or other legumes that do not require extensive soaking before cooking them could be used.
2 plastic, transparent disposable cups, at least 12 oz in size
Measuring cup
Permanent marker
Timer or clock
Ruler (optional)

Preparation

Fill up the bowl half total with ice cubes and then add cold tap water to the basin, nearly filling information technology. You will use this every bit a source of water ice water.
Fill each plastic cup with ½ loving cup of stale black-eyed peas. Gently shake each cup then that the beans flatten out on the surface.
Use a permanent marking to make a line on the side of each loving cup marking where the top of the black-eyed peas are. You will want to have the cups on the edge of a counter (or tabular array) and look straight-on at the top of the beans to make this marker accurately. How do you think the edible bean level will modify when h2o is added to the cups?

Instructions

At the same time, fill one plastic cup with ice cold h2o (from the bowl of ice cubes and water you prepared) and fill the other cup with very hot tap water. Fill up both cups to the top with water.
Set a timer, or note what time it is, and check on the cups every 10 minutes for the side by side 45 minutes. When you bank check on them, make a pocket-size line on each cup where the top of the beans are. Write the time next to the marking. How does the bean level in each cup change over time?
Later on 45 minutes (or longer), which cup has the higher bean level? What does this tell you virtually whether common cold or hot water is more quickly absorbed by the beans?
When y'all are washed with this action, yous could discard the beans, or y'all could include them in a edible bean-based recipe of your choice, such every bit blackness-eyed pea soup!

Actress: Another way to measure your results in this activity is to weigh the black-eyed peas. Yous could use multiple cups and weigh the beans from those cups (after straining out the water) equally they are soaked in water for different amounts of time. How does the mass of the black-eyed peas change over time?

Actress: Try this activity using some different legumes (legumes include beans, peas and lentils). Practice some legumes absorb h2o faster than others? What does this tell you about how long they might demand to be soaked earlier cooking them?

Observations and Results

Did you find that the black-eyed peas had a higher level in the loving cup with the hot water over time compared to in the cup with the water ice common cold water?

When dried beans are soaked in water, their book increases as they absorb the water. Beans absorb hot water more than rapidly than common cold water, which is why the blackness-eyed peas used in this activeness should have swelled faster in the hot water than in the common cold water. For example, after only 10 minutes of soaking, you may have seen that the level of the black-eyed peas in the hot h2o cup was about one-half an inch higher than the level in the cold h2o loving cup, and that this difference remained consistent for the residue of the activeness. This activity works well for dried black-eyed peas, split peas and lentils considering they exercise non require extensive soaking before cooking; if you were to exam other legumes that crave more than soaking, you would run across that they absorb water much more slowly.

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Additional Resources

Is the Soup Ready? Mensurate How Much Water is Absorbed by Stale Beans, from Scientific discipline Buddies
Scientific discipline Activities for All Ages!, from Science Buddies