Bean Broth

Bean broth is the savory, lightly opaque liquid left after simmering dried beans in water. It tastes mildly beany with a soft, starchy body that can slightly thicken soups and sauces. Cooks use it to cook grains, braise vegetables, deglaze pans, or whip when concentrated for foams and emulsions; it ranges from thin to gelatinous depending on reduction and bean variety. Typically made at home or captured from canned beans, it is seldom sold as a standalone retail broth.

Legume cooking liquids have long accompanied bean cookery across the Mediterranean, Latin America, the Middle East, and East Asia. The modern pastry application as aquafaba rose to prominence in the mid-2010s, popularizing chickpea broth for foams and meringue-like uses.