Beans, beans, the magical fruit...

Alas. They do sometimes lead to a bit of embarrassing intestinal wind. The undesirable effects usually diminish as you make them a regular part of your diet and your digestive systems gets used to breaking them down. Start gradually by eating them once or twice a week, then more often as your body adjusts. In the meantime, here are a few tips to taking the toot out of the fruit:

1. Soak for at least 8 hours.

2. Discard the soaking water. Yes, it's flavourful and nutritious, but it does contain about 80% of the gaseous compounds.

3. When cooking, start with fresh, cold water. Add an orange, unpeeled, bring the beans to the boil and remove the orange after 5 minutes of simmering.

5. Add fennel, bay leaves, epazote, mint, cilantro, cumin, kombu or ginger to beans during cooking to help break down the offending compounds.

6. Don't add salt until the beans are almost cooked; salt added to early will make beans tough.

7. Make sure you cook them until soft and tender.