Clem's Chilli
 

Clem's chilli. The latter is often seen served up in western movies


Chilli is short for Chilli Con Carne which means chilli with meat. The dish is Mexican in origin and comprises shredded beef fried with onions, paprika, cumin, pepper, peeled tomatoes, and tomato puree. Except for Texas where it is sacrilege to use it, boiled kidney beans are added afterwards and the combination is slow cooked for some 2 hours or more if you like.
 


Bean eating / fart scene from Mel Brooks' movie, "Blazing Saddles"

 

Why beans make you fart

Flatus from the terminal end of the human gastrointestinal tract (and other animals as well), is gas. This gas typically comprises, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and methane. In humans, this emission is odiriferous because it contains breakdown products thus:

hydrogen sulphide >> methanethiol >> dimethyl sulphide

But, the association of beans with gaseous emissions is due to the fact that the digestive system of many humans cannot completely digest the causal compounds which are the sugars raffinose, stachyose, and verbascose. However, bacteria in human guts can use these sugars as carbon sources, the result of which is the evolution of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. The presence of hydrogen is the reason why we hear of urban tales of school boys trying to light their farts with matchsticks (hydrogen combined with oxygen in the air makes for an explosive mix).

Lactose intolerant people have the same gaseous problem for a similar reason. Their inability to process lactose into its base molecules of galactose and glucose leaves the dimer available for gut bacteria to indulge in it and produce gas as one of the end products.
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13 July 2024
 


 

 

 

 



Created by Clem Kuek