Cooking Dried Beans

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?PJOYZ 9 April 2012 Cooking Dried Beans
Beans are a large portion of my diet. A supply of beans is purchased from as bulk food store and all pressure cooked together.They are a low cost source of nutritional food. The beans are washed, boiled vigorously for ten minutes, rinsed, pressure cooked at 15 PSI for 90 minutes to insure they are well cooked. The beans are then mixed with the condiment of choice with sufficient water to cover, and boiled gently for a few minutes to mix. I only use molasses for a condiment.The finished product is stored in containers and the excess frozen. One container is kept in the refrigerator for current use.For long term storage at room temperature, they could be pressure canned, but I have no requirement for this procedure.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Looking at those pictures reminds me how much I like butter (lima) beans. Very hard to find in France, though, where domestic varieties are very much the norm.

[demi]

i just store all my dried beans in jars then when i make something, bean chilli for example, i make a huge batch and freeze the extra portions for later.

[Durgan]

http://www.soupsong.com/fbeans.html

There is no mystery about making digestible beans only much mis-practice in cooking. It is impossible to over-cook beans. They must be thoroughly cooked without fail or there will be stomach discomfiture. The cooking method used is not important. Pressure cooking is relatively quick. Some beans (soy for example and there are others) retain their shape after being thoroughly cooked. I beat all my cooked beans in a blender and eat as one would a cereal or paste.

I was reading a book written in 1885 authored by a Doctor at Sing Sing prison. His observation was many of the prisoners had stomach complaints. While He was inspecting the toilets, trench type, he noticed that the faeces was mostly partially digested beans. Upon pursuing the issue he attributed this to insufficient cooking, and it got me experimenting. I now cook so long that there is no doubt, and since I eat soy beans daily and the other types certainly every other day this is important to me.

[contadina]

So long as you soak them and cook them for long enough their is no need to turn all beans into a paste to make the digestible. Houmous and puréed fave beans are great, but so are a myriad of whole bean dishes. Why limit yourself to bean mush all the time?

[Durgan]

So long as you soak them and cook them for long enough their is no need to turn all beans into a paste to make the digestible. Houmous and puréed fave beans are great, but so are a myriad of whole bean dishes. Why limit yourself to bean mush all the time?

I don't mash the beans to make them digestible, but simply because I prefer them that way. The beans are still digestible before mashing.