Jim, Both the barley and the broad bean produce the maltose initially. The difference is, naturally germinating the broad bean the maltose is converted from the fatty acids into sucrose which gets converted again and so on. The malting of barley, on the other hand, is an actual process in which the barley is forced to germinate ...causing the enzymes to activate and maltose to be formed....and then the barley is forced to stop germination in order for the maltose to be "harvested". The germinating barley is actually dried at a high temperature so the maltose is "trapped" in state within the barley seed. As far as your question on the production of sucrose.....let me make sure I am understanding you right. Are you wanting to know if the sprouting of beans would or could be used to produce the sucrose we call table sugar? As in the malting process? If so, interesting question! I have read somewhere, at some point in time, about a study I believe in Nigeria that was conducted on using the malting process on soybeans. If I recall right, the protein content was higher in malted soybeans and there was an increase on soluble sugars as well. I can't wrap my head around which database I saw that. If I can find the article again I will let you know. BUT....it comes down to yes, the malting process has been done on beans (at least a few have) and increases in sugars can happen. However, I do not recall anyone researching the "harvesting" of the sugars such as sucrose under this condition. I don't believe they are traditionally malted for commercial consumption at this time. But don't quote me on that! LOL I would think that since there is a distinct time for the malting process to occur we can successfully "malt" grains. I am not sure if the distinct time for the conversion to sucrose has ever been studied. Would be an interesting project I would think.

probably wrong forum and too late now. sorry

I do a lot of one pot dishes, meat and potatoes, stroganof, bean soup with ham, spagetti, etc., then after working to make lovely (and very high calorie food) I grind it all up in a food processor. No matter what the food, it always appears to be something gray with butter in the end (or red if it's spagetti). So I wanted lots of counter space for prep, a huge range to cook in and on, and somewhere to keep the food processor busy while grinding and cooking. Then I package it all up in 6oz packages and freeze it. This is all for DS...I don't normally cook our family meals (DH is a fabulous cook). I never envisioned myself grinding and freezing food LOL if anyone knew I'd lose my "Amatuer chef of the year" award from the mid 80's...I wonder if I could grind up a cheesecake...heh heh DH does all of the cooking when we entertain and for our family dinners. We planned the kitchen so that he could work efficiently, with a stainless counter run between the main sink and stove. That huge stove, with appropriate hood so he can stirfry, and prep space behind him to work on vegis while meat is happening on the stainless side. On the other side of the island we have a sink, and two counters. They're sort of "my" zone when we entertain, for appetizer prep, salad prep, and landing zones for dishes between courses. Our sink and DW are lined up with the main dish/silver storage, so that some day, when DS becomes useful, he can put away dishes or set the table without being in DH's way. The fridge is between the two zones so that we can both access it easily. So far it flows very well. We made our isles bigger than they were (they were about 29" wide prior) and planned appliances that don't fill the isles when open. Dish and food storage is planned based on when it's used and how, so that they're close to the functions that make sense (ie wine glasses and decanters are close to the dining room door since we tend to use a lot of them during parties). But no matter how well we planned...we couldn't increase the size of the kitchen, so after a dinner party for six...it all looks pretty much like this LOL: I was half way through cleaning up when I took those pics LOL we really do make a mess, and having lots of counters to toss it on between courses was a big deal to us.

We eat a pound or two of pintos every week. I rinse them till the water is clean, boil them for a minute, let them soak an hour or two, then pressure cook them for seven minutes in the soaking water and let the pressure release on its own. We season them in many ways after they are cooked. At least with pintos, cooking them in the soaking water results in a nice, thick deep brown saucy liquid that we use when we season the beans..or make soup...or mash, or whatever we do with them. For soup, I add chicken broth and other vegetables. I wouldn't dream of throwing out the soaking liquid...and we do not have a gas problem here. We've been cooking them this way for about three years now. I understand many people have problems with the gas, and I'm very glad we don't. We have always eaten a variety of beans ~ in chili, salads, soups, etc. ~ admittedly, we've gotten kind of hung up on pintos and black beans in the last couple years, but boy, they're good! And versatile. I think the old song about musical fruit has it all wrong! The more you eat, the LESS you toot!