Dried Bean Problems,HELP?

try soaking the beans over nite. throw out the soaking water. this also helps with the gas. also light kidney beans cook easier than dark red.

 

If you have a Dollar General, I just picked up some great northern one day---their brand, Clover Valley...
They were the best white beans we've had in years----next visit, I bought several bags.
Didn't have a problem cooking; my problem was with the price!!!!!
$2.00 for beans????HELLO????

 

I have had this problem before. Now I can all my dried beans. Wash beans and look over them to get rid of any bad ones (the ones that float are not good), watch for small rocks that sometime get in the beans. Cover with water and heat. Can as you would fresh beans. Directions in your canning books. Good luck.

 

Hi Meerkat.........my beans take a very very long time to cook. I bring to boil the night before and then soak over night, still takes many many hours to make soft, get part way soft, but not all the way. I looked online and because my beans are old it takes this long to cook. It was their suggestion to bring to boil when I go to soak overnight..........I've had these beans for a little over 10 years, they taste just fine but I think I could cook them for 2 days!!!

 

Im no dry bean expert but whenever I do beans I put them in the crock pot in the morning and let them cook all day.

 

The older the bean the longer there gonna take ta cook.

A good long soak then I put em in a pot an bring ta a boil, then simmer after that. Some beans simply won't get soft, just the type a bean. Canned (store bought) beans usually done fresh, so they stay soft.

Hope that heps some.

 

Like others here, I've read the older a bean is, the longer it takes to cook. If the above suggestions don't work, you could always grind them & make refried beans. :2thumb:

 

Yep, soak 'em over nite or all day, till they appear bloated or split. Then cook as usual. Cheaper to let soak than cook long time.

Jimmy

 

We were having trouble with dried beans as well, but found adding baking soda to the soak water to help. This time it didn't. Perhaps we didn't leave them long enough. So we brought them almost to a boil then took them off the heat and let them soak ("quick soak method"). I think it ended up being a couple hours before we got to using them in our Three-Bean Turkey Chili. They *still* were not getting soft enough, so I added a teaspoon of baking soda right into the chili and turned the heat down and let it go longer than we originally planned to cook it. Turned out just great in the end. I think we might want to try canning some when/if we are able to get a pressure canner though.

 

I have tried the following and it seems to make the beans cook faster and helps eliminate an unfortunate social problem that comes from eating beans!


De-gassing Beans, from Diana Mirkin's healthful recipes (mostly vegetarian), based on Dr. Gabe Mirkin's healthy lifestyle guidelines.

"If you're bothered by gas when you eat beans, try this simple cure for your problem. Put the beans in a large pot and cover them with water. Bring them to a boil and take them off the heat. This breaks the capsules surrounding the beans and allows stachyose, verbascose and raffinose, the gas-causing sugars, to escape into the water. Stir a teaspoon or so of baking soda into the water (to make it more alkaline) and let the beans soak overnight. Drain the soaking water off the beans and rinse them several times. (If you eat the soaking liquid, you will cause unbelievable discomfort for yourself and those around you). Then proceed with your recipe to cook the beans. "

 

Meerkat, it's the altitude. You live in Florida. You are 3 feet above sea level. Buy a shorter stove! Ahem. Sorry.

Perhaps the beans weren't ripe when they were harvested? Just a guess, but I'd bet unripe dried beans would remain hard. :dunno:

 

If all that ain't workin, it be the bean. Who knows where them beans come from anymore. We started grown our own ta dry this year, got several varities ta try. The ones we like were gonna plant more of next year. There heirlooms to, so seed won't be a problem.

Like some one else said, maybe grind em an use ta thicken some other dish's?:confused: