Calories in Beans, Dry, Small Red (0% moisture)

What makes beans so powerful?

Small red beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) share a dangerous trait with their larger kidney bean cousins: they contain phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), a lectin that can cause severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea within hours of consumption. The key detail most cooks miss is that PHA is not destroyed by low, slow simmering — in fact, slow cookers operating around 80°C can leave beans more toxic than raw ones. The FDA has documented multiple outbreaks traced to kidney beans cooked in slow cookers. The solution is straightforward: beans must reach a rolling boil for at least ten minutes to fully denature the lectin. Soaking alone does not neutralize PHA. Small red beans, popular in Caribbean rice-and-peas and Central American refried bean preparations, have been cultivated in the Americas for over 7,000 years, with archaeological evidence of Phaseolus vulgaris domestication found in both Mesoamerica and the Andes. Their deep red seed coat contains anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins — the same class of polyphenols found in cranberries — which may contribute to the observed antioxidant activity of cooked bean extracts in laboratory studies.