Beans are a highly nutritious source of protein if you are limiting meat in your diet. The must be soaked to remove their protective enzyymes that can cause gas.
You can serve them with stews and instead of pasta or rice, you can bake them with vegetables or serve them cold with a salad dressing.
Buy Dried Beans
The surface of the bean should be smooth, firm, uniform in size and colour. Avoid any that are broken, blistered, wrinkled or shrivelled. When rehydrated, they will expand to about 2 1/2 times their dried measure size.
You can serve them with stews and instead of pasta or rice, you can bake them with vegetables or serve them cold with a salad dressing.
Buy Dried Beans
The surface of the bean should be smooth, firm, uniform in size and colour. Avoid any that are broken, blistered, wrinkled or shrivelled. When rehydrated, they will expand to about 2 1/2 times their dried measure size.
How to Store Dried Beans
Dried beans can be stored in plastic containers in a cool, dry cabinet, drawer or shelf. Only keep dried beans for a year.
The Dried Bean Sort
Search for dirty beans, tiny stones or damaged, wrinkled or broken beans, grit and stones and remove.
Pour the checked beans into a large bowl.
Cover the beans with three times the amount of beans with water and remove any "floaters". Floaters are DUDS and will not cook properly. three times the amount of beans measured or more.
Soak the beans overnight... you'll see them double in size and most of the water will have been absorbed by morning.
In the morning, rinse and drain the beans three or four times till the water runs clear.
Some Dried Beans Require NO SOAKING: Black-eyed Peas, Lentils and Split Peas.
Why Soaking Dried Beans Eliminates GAS
Soaking dried beans activates the beans to begin the germination process. Once wet, the beans release enzymes that begin to break down their complex sugars into more simple ones. It is the bean's complex sugars that give you gas and indigestion after eating beans that haven't been pre-soaked. The overnight soak method reduces 60% of the complex sugars in most beans.
TO COOK THE SOAKED BEANS
NO SALT When Cooking Dried Beans
Add NO SALT until the beans are tender and cooked completely. Adding sea salt to the dried bean cooking water will result an undercooked bean or a bean that never seems to cook through. Adding salt will prevent the beans from absorbing water.
So add the salt and seasonings AFTER the beans are tender and the consistency you want the finished recipe to represent.
Add NO SALT until the beans are tender and cooked completely. Adding sea salt to the dried bean cooking water will result an undercooked bean or a bean that never seems to cook through. Adding salt will prevent the beans from absorbing water.
So add the salt and seasonings AFTER the beans are tender and the consistency you want the finished recipe to represent.
Never cook canned beans in their liquid! Rinse several times in water and drain before cooking, otherwise your flatulence will be great!
How Much Water?
Add the rinsed beans to the pot and cover them with clean filtered water. Use enough water to cover the beans and have at least one inch above the bean level. Do not use excess water, just enough to keep them from drying out during the boiling and simmering process. When checking for bean doneness, if the water level is low, add just enough to keep the beans wet toward the end of the cooking time.
Skim the Dried Bean FOAM OFFWhen the pot contents begin to boil, the surface will form a white foam from the gases being released from the beans. This is not a time to leave the kitchen!!! I have had my bean pot boil over many times and the clean-up is no fun! While the beans boil, skim off the white foam that appears on the surface of the cooking water with a large spoon and discard.
Turn the Heat DownTurn the burner temperature down to the lowest setting for a gentle simmer and cover the pot with a lid... cook till the beans are done.
The Cooked Dried Bean Taste Test
After simmering the beans for three quarters of the suggested cooking time, taste a bean to if it cooked to a softened state, if not, cook for another 15 to 30 minutes and taste test again.
Drain and Season the Cooked Dried BeansOnce the beans are done to your taste test, turn the heat off, drain the cooking liquid off, add seasonings or sauces and serve.
Dried Bean EconomyCanned beans are convenient and a real time saver, but they don't taste like home cooked. It is also very economical for families to cook their own beans rather than purchase store-bought canned versions.
Freeze the Cooked Beans for ConvenienceHome cooked dried beans freeze very well. After draining off the cooking liquid, divide the cooked beans into meal-sized portions. I fill quart-size plastic ziplock freezer bags with three-cups of cooked beans. Make sure to "burp" the bag to get all the excess air out. Then I shake the bag to distribute the beans in an even layer and lay it flat in my freezer. The cooked beans can then be defrosted in a bowl of warm water or added to whatever recipe I might be creating.
Freezing cooked dried beans saves many dollars, prevents exposure to BPAs in canned beans, and takes up less room than a pantry full of cans. I still keep a few cans in my pantry for emergency use if an emergency happens, but I prefer the taste of home-cooked beans over any canned product.
Dried Bean HINT: Not all dried beans need soaking, so make note of those in the chart below!
How Much Water?
Add the rinsed beans to the pot and cover them with clean filtered water. Use enough water to cover the beans and have at least one inch above the bean level. Do not use excess water, just enough to keep them from drying out during the boiling and simmering process. When checking for bean doneness, if the water level is low, add just enough to keep the beans wet toward the end of the cooking time.
Skim the Dried Bean FOAM OFFWhen the pot contents begin to boil, the surface will form a white foam from the gases being released from the beans. This is not a time to leave the kitchen!!! I have had my bean pot boil over many times and the clean-up is no fun! While the beans boil, skim off the white foam that appears on the surface of the cooking water with a large spoon and discard.
Turn the Heat DownTurn the burner temperature down to the lowest setting for a gentle simmer and cover the pot with a lid... cook till the beans are done.
The Cooked Dried Bean Taste Test
After simmering the beans for three quarters of the suggested cooking time, taste a bean to if it cooked to a softened state, if not, cook for another 15 to 30 minutes and taste test again.
Drain and Season the Cooked Dried BeansOnce the beans are done to your taste test, turn the heat off, drain the cooking liquid off, add seasonings or sauces and serve.
Dried Bean EconomyCanned beans are convenient and a real time saver, but they don't taste like home cooked. It is also very economical for families to cook their own beans rather than purchase store-bought canned versions.
Freeze the Cooked Beans for ConvenienceHome cooked dried beans freeze very well. After draining off the cooking liquid, divide the cooked beans into meal-sized portions. I fill quart-size plastic ziplock freezer bags with three-cups of cooked beans. Make sure to "burp" the bag to get all the excess air out. Then I shake the bag to distribute the beans in an even layer and lay it flat in my freezer. The cooked beans can then be defrosted in a bowl of warm water or added to whatever recipe I might be creating.
Freezing cooked dried beans saves many dollars, prevents exposure to BPAs in canned beans, and takes up less room than a pantry full of cans. I still keep a few cans in my pantry for emergency use if an emergency happens, but I prefer the taste of home-cooked beans over any canned product.
Dried Bean HINT: Not all dried beans need soaking, so make note of those in the chart below!
| Dried Beans (1 cup) | Cooking Time | Presoak |
|---|---|---|
| Adzuki | 40 minutes | YES |
| Anasazi beans | 50-60 minutes | YES |
| Black Beans | 50-60 minutes | YES |
| Black-eyed Peas | 30-40 minutes | NO |
| Butter Beans | 60-90 minutes | YES |
| Cannellini Beans | 1 1/4 hours | YES |
| Chestnut Beans | 1 1/2 hours | YES |
| Fava Beans | 1 hour | YES |
| Flageolet Beans | 1 1/2 hours | YES |
| Garbanzo Beans | 1 1/2 hours | YES |
| Great Northern Beans | 50-60 minutes | YES |
| Kidney Beans | 1 1/4 hours | YES |
| Lentils, green or brown | 25-30 minutes | NO |
| Lentils, red | 10 minutes | NO |
| Lentils, French or black | 20 minutes | NO |
| Lima Beans, baby | 40-45 minutes | YES |
| Lima Beans, large | 40-45 minutes | YES |
| Mung Beans | 45 minutes | YES |
| Navy Beans | 50-60 minutes | YES |
| Peas, split | 50-60 minutes | NO |
| Peas, whole | 1 1/4 hours | N0 |
| Pea Beans | 50-60 minutes | YES |
| Pinto Beans | 1 hour | YES |
| Red Beans, small | 1 hour | YES |
| Soybeans | 2 1/4 hours | YES |
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