Do garbanzo beans (chickpeas) lose their amino acids when soaked too long?

Question

I started soaking some chickpeas in preparation to cook them, but for the last few days I haven't had time. Now they've been in the water for three days, and I noticed that the water is really yellow. Something must be diffusing out of the beans and into the water... I wonder if it's the amino acids. Am I going to miss out on all the protein power of these chickpeas because I've over-soaked them? If not, what IS coming out of these beans?

Answer 1

Since you're soaking, you must have started with dry beans. Some of it is probably dirt-that's one of the tworeasons that the first step in cooking dry beans is soaking them, the other being to shorten cookng time. All beans are dirty, not surprising since that's what they grow in. Dry beans haven't had the washing given to canned beans since that shortens their shelf life. A lot of it is sugar. Give it another few days and you'll see them ferment, obvious from the bubbles that will start forming.

You're probably losing a little protein as well, but mostly what you have now is chick peas that are going to taste really bad, since their flavor requires the sugars that have leeched into the water.

Answer 2

I looked it up on the web and found this:

Garbanzo beans are also known as chick peas. This bean needs long soaking and cooking.
Cooking dried garbanzo beans from scratch requires 8 hours of soaking and 3 hours of cooking;

Hope this helps