On Nov 15, 9:27 am, "Davy" wrote:
Now done a bit of online research.......

It seems that runner beans contain the same toxin as kidney beans but to a
much lesser extent. The toxin, in the levels found in kidney beans, causes
about 24 hours of vomiting and diarrhoea - but no lasting harm. Soaking the
beans in water for about 5 hours, discarding the water, boiling for at least
10 mins reduces the toxin to safe levels. The soaking also leaches out the
sugar that causes flatulence after eating beans. So if you don't take these
precautions then you may suffer both diarrhoea and flatulence - best not to
think about it.

The soaking is required to rehydrate the dried beans. It has
essentially no effect on the level of toxin.

Because in Britain kidney beans are only available as dried beans and
therefore have to be boiled to make them edible, there are few recorded
cases of red kidney bean poisoning - mostly due to people adding the beans
to slow casserole cookers which don't boil the beans.

I have some friends who sufferred kidney bean poisoning after they
prepared a salad with raw (but soaked) kidney beans.