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I've seen various sources on the internet discuss the toxicity of raw kidney beans and how slow cooking is not sufficient or could even be counter productive. (See https://www.fda.gov/media/83271/download pg 254, or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaseolus_vulgaris#Toxicity). On the other hand, people use kidney beans in cholent, they are the first ingredient in the Gefen cholent mix available at my local grocery store! I've never heard anyone getting the kinds of issues that the toxin in kidney beans causes (extreme nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, some even need hospitalization).

Does anyone have any insight on this? Is it possible that they aren't really kidney beans in the cholent mix? I don't know is it possible that not everyone is affected by this toxin?

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    "והפול והעדשים בלבד אין ראוי לאוכלן לא בימות החמה ולא בימות הגשמים"
    – msh210 ♦
    Aug 1 at 18:16
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    This seems like more of a medical question than a question about Judaism.
    – Deuteronomy
    Aug 1 at 20:06
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    It seems like phytohemagglutinin is thermostable until about 172°F-176°F. So most slow cook recipes, which typically max out in the 5-10 hour range, may not consistently raise the temp enough of the full volume and could pose an issue. However the average שבת chulent is cooked way longer than that (even during summer months), and most crock/chulent pots low setting is about 200°F. Which means that in all likelihood insofar as the full volume has been raised to that temp as a result of the extended cook duration, the phytohemagglutinin has been denatured.
    – Deuteronomy
    Aug 1 at 20:33
  • Migrate to cooking.stackexchange.com ?
    – Avrohom Yitzchok
    Aug 2 at 8:28
  • @AvrohomYitzchok it would be off-topic there as well, since the "correct food-safety answer" is not to cook the beans in crockpots (I don't think there is any official recommendation regarding cooking at low temperatures for a long time), and "why don't people get sick" isn't really answerable. Maybe on biology.se or something like that, they can say if cooking at lower temperatures for a very long time is equivalent.
    – Esther
    Aug 2 at 18:22

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