Comments on: Cooking Dry Beans

By: Mature & Dry Green Beans | GNOWFGLINS

Mature & Dry Green Beans | GNOWFGLINS — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:01:50 +0000

[...] (The completely dried out beans are not shelled… yet.) The dried beans behave like … dried beans. I soak them before cooking, which will happen when I get them shelled. (Here are bean soaking and cooking instructions.) [...]

By: Vegetarian Baked Beans (still full of flavor!) « project: family cookbook

Vegetarian Baked Beans (still full of flavor!) « project: family cookbook — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 21:41:13 +0000

[...] 3 cups cooked beans (white, northern, pinto) (for instructions on cooking beans click here) [...]

By: Magan

Magan — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:35:27 +0000

They are red beans, but the amount of acid wasn’t excessive (I thought it could have something to do with the mix of different types of acid), he put a couple of tablespoons of vinegar and I put one tablespoon of sourdough starter , (for 3 or 4 cups of dried beans). I rinsed the beans the next day for cooking and left them back in water, we didn’t cook them that day, so they were 24 hours more in water and were again rinsed before cooking (total 2 days).

My main fear is if they are old, I hope that is not the reason, we buy in bulk and this is a new bag, just opened, we have 5 kilos remaining .

How do you do it with the baking soda, would you add it to the water soaking and then rinse it? or would you soak it normally and then add it to the cooking water and then rinse them, once they are cooked? My main concern with the baking soda is that we find it very strong the taste to whatever I have tried to add it to, it hasn’t really worked for us in the house, any recipe with baking soda and mi husband will be the first one noticing the taste even if the measure is exactly what was in the recipe. Would it leave any kind of aftertaste?

By: Wardeh

Wardeh — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:17:38 +0000

Magan — What kind of beans are they? Not all beans need an acid added to the soaking water. Also with the addition of double the acid, it could prevent them from toughening up — this is some people don’t use acid at all.

Did you drain and rinse them well, to get all the acid out, before cooking?

Finally, do you know how old the beans are? Older beans will not soften up as easily. If they’re too old, they won’t soften up at all. You could add some baking soda to the cooking water to help them soften up.

By: Magan

Magan — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 07:39:59 +0000

We have been soaking the beans for two days. My husband put some vinegar and because I didn’t know I put some sourdough starter. Yesterday in the night they were cooking for 6 hours. Today we have beans “hard as stones” (well, not as stones, but nearly). Any one has any idea of what went wrong and why? any way to sort it out now? It is a complete mistery!

By: Shady Creek Farm and Nursery » Blog Archive » Chicken Chili Recipe

Shady Creek Farm and Nursery » Blog Archive » Chicken Chili Recipe — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:15:53 +0000

[...] Cooking Dry Beans – GNOWFGLINS [...]

By: Marlene

Marlene — Tue, 18 May 2010 01:06:01 +0000

When you speak of adding acid, I am assuming it is something like lemon juice or vinegar. Am I right? Would I add that to Pintos also, or just the other beans mentioned ie. navy? Thank you for all your help. I certainly enjoy your newsletters.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:14:25 +0000

I don’t think they could be cooked any longer, they are pretty soft and almost mushy already. And there was hardly any cooking “water” (more like black goo?) left to drain anyway. Now I’ve learned for next time! I can’t wait for these new skills become second-nature! I’m definitely always learning some important lesson with each new thing I try, and sometimes it can be a little disheartening to always be messing something up. But as my husband said, at least it wasn’t a steak that I just messed up! Anyway, thanks so much for your help.

By: Wardeh

Wardeh — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:54:44 +0000

Carrie – Yes, I think you can use them. Just please do discard the soaking/cooking water as it will contain all the undesirables. Do you think they could stand more cooking? Like even for 15 minutes to half hour? If so, just simmer them for a bit longer in clean water to finish them off. I don’t know if that’s what you mean by “bite” or not. If they can’t take any more cooking, then go ahead and use the beans but not the water.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:47:25 +0000

I followed these directions (well, kinda…) for soaking and cooking my black beans (first time ever doing using dry beans!!) but left out an important step… rinsing and covering the soaked beans with fresh filtered water for cooking. I totally missed the rinsing part, so the acidic water was still in there when I cooked them all day. Do you think it’s still okay to eat? I think they taste alright, maybe have a little “bite” to them, but I’m okay with that, as long as it’s not going to be harmful to eat. What do you think?