My Grandmother followed the above suggestion, only she added a couple of tablespoons of baking soda during the 30-40 minutes of cooking which causes a thick foam to come to the top. I skim off the foam as needed, discard the water, and rinse the beans. Then add fresh water and resumed cooking.

Well I just spent my late morning early afternoon soaking my beans and went to the boiling water process... WOW... I have very little beans left! I soaked the beans for 3 hrs then drained... added boiling water turned burner on 3 and cooked for 25 minutes and now I have mush! Is this process for a particular type of bean? I us Great White Northern beans. Please... Anyone let me know! Thanks!

Definitely works on pinto beans, not on "Great Northern's" though, too soft, they'll turn into paste. :)

Thanks for the person who responded concerning the great Northern beans.

Thank you! I couldn't figure out what happened with my beans.

The best way to get gas out of any bean is to cook them with a large Potato (any kind you may have handy). Be sure and throw out the potato, because it is full of the gas. Do not allow anyone to eat it.
I have an Aunt that says to sprinkle ground ginger on the beans while cooking, this takes out the gas. I have never tried this. Does anyone know if this actually works?

Should the potato be peeled or no for best results?

I was wondering the same thing.

Should I peel the potato?

I'm glad to see you say this. My mother use to do the same thing, but I wasn't sure if it was an ol' wives tale or true. I guess it's true...

How long should u leave the potato in the cooking beans to leech out all the gas

Overnight along with the pre-soak.

Thank you for your answer - very helpful.

Am thinking you have to peel the potato. That would help the potato - to actually absorb the gas's.. Definitely doing to try this. Hope it works. I have a recipe from a W VA cookbook called "Savory Beans" - that actually tastes better - then a dessert (hard to believe, but true). I am going to post it. Has 11 ingredients added to 1 lb. dried beans. Yum!. Now - just need to try the potato thing.

Add baking soda during soak overnight, drain and rinse x2.

Today - is not a good day. How about just soaking the beans - cooking them as usual... and "let it rip".