Italian Lupini Beans are truly a unique, healthy and delicious snack that can be consumed throughout the year. Lupini are also great for your appetizer or cheese boards. Whether you refer to them as lupini or lupins, come and see for yourself how easily they can be prepared at home.
Soak the dry Lupini Beans for 24 hours in water; ensure beans are completely submerged.
Rinse and place in a large pot with cold tap water.
Bring to a vigorous simmer and boil for 20 minutes. If necessary, keep adding water to keep the beans completely submerged.
Drain and rinse with cold water.
Place par-boiled beans in a bowl or a large mason jar and fill with fresh water; ensure beans are completely submerged.
For the next couple of days, drain, rinse and refill with fresh tap water a couple of times a day. If possible aim for at least twice a day. The lupini beans are ready when they no longer have that bitter aftertaste; you can start to taste them after 5-7 days of changing the water. Sometimes, this can take up to 2 weeks. What we are looking for is a sweet and tender lupini.
During the rinsing and soaking stage, the lupini can be kept refrigerated.
Once the lupini are sweet and tender, place in a large airtight container (mason jar) with salt-water brine (see note).
To serve: Simply remove the amount of lupini beans required, drain brine water and place lupini in a bowl. Serve them plain. Garnish with parsley sprigs.
To store: Brined lupini can be kept refrigerated in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Please note that consumption of these Italian Lupini Beans is not recommended for individuals who have nut allergies. You need to be available every day, for just a couple of minutes, for a couple of weeks before you can enjoy the mild and nutty flavor of this legume. For the brine solution: add 2 tablespoons of Kosher salt to 8 cups of water.One serving is calculated as ½ cup of lupini beans.Please keep in mind that the nutritional information provided below is just a rough estimate and variations can occur depending on the specific ingredients used.