Will adding baking soda to beans prevent flatulence?  

OK - so it's not something we discuss on a regular basis, but hey - do we or do we not ALL deal with this at some point? If it's not our partners holding our heads under the blanket or uncles wanting us to pull their fingers, it's our S/Os (or fathers) waiting until we're in the car in a snow storm with the heat on full blast only to say, "I'm sorry, but I didn't have to before!" Can we avoid it - does this work?

According to some, yes, this does work to some degree. Some add the soda before when soaking the beans and others add the soda during the cooking process. But, they recommend no more than 1/8 tsp to a large pot of beans because the soda reduces the Vitamin B1 content of the beans.

How about you? Have you tried this? Since we had baked beans with our dinner tonight, I guess I'll find out in short order if the mistake was mine to make, huh?