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Do You Know Beans?

Dried Beans 101.

I Love Beans! Why? Well, beans maybe considered peasant food by some who call themselves Gourmet Chefs, but�. they should get off their high horses about haute cuisine and admit this simple food can also taste great, is easy to prepare, is healthy, high in carbohydrates, protein, full of fiber, full of iron and natural B vitamins and with few exceptions, low in fat and calories. I love beans for all these reasons but there are still more reasons I love beans. There are at least a dozen different varieties you can find at your local supermarket. Actually there are over 14,000 kinds of legumes� if you care to find and try them all out! They are cheap, you can make an entire meal of beans and cornbread and a simple salad or just a sliced tomato�.. and most of all�they are "Virtually Immortal". Yes, they don't spoil like those things in my refrig that turn gray and grow hair. (What really scares me is when I catch them critters scampering from shelf to shelf when I open the refrig door late at night). And my potatoes and onions think they can grow into a tree right there in my kitchen! If someone ever told you to purchase only the freshest dried beans, that is just a lot of culinary hogwash. You never know how old dried beans you purchased are� and for that matter, it does not matter. So, they are a little "more dehydrated" than a fresher dried bean�. Just soak and cook them a few minutes longer.

Now you're in the supermarket and see a pound of plain dried "gourmet" / "boutique" / "heirloom" beans in a pretty box for about 5 times the price of those bulk beans of the same variety. Well, the only difference is if you buy the "gourmet" beans you will leave the store with less money and have a pretty box. If you buy the bulk beans, you will need to sort through them more carefully to pick out maybe 10 or 12 bad, discolored or harden beans�. And you should definitely rinse them well before soaking and you may need to soak and cook them a few minutes longer. If you don't want to go to all this extra trouble, buy the pretty box.

When you get your beans home you can either eat them or store them. Storing is so simple. Any old jar with an air tight lid will do to keep moisture out. Store at room temperature. No need to worry about blanching, freezing, refrigeration, exposure to light, heat or bugs coming from even inside a sealed air tight container! ( can someone please tell me where Flour moths come from? I know all about the birds and bees� but no one ever told me about this oddity! )

This is what I do. I buy the cheap beans and I may store them for months but eventually I will pour them into a pot - slowly looking and picking out the ugly ones� once I have just the pretty ones in the pot I add cold water to cover and stir vigorously for a couple of minutes to clean them. I pour them into a colander and rinse them well with cold running water in the sink. I add them back to the pot and fill with clean, fresh filtered or bottled water to cover by at least two inches. (I found filtered water, as opposed to unfiltered tap/faucet water, brings out a better taste in anything it is used in... even a glass of water!) I cover and let soak for 4 to 8 hours, whichever is more convenient. Soaked beans cook much more evenly, are less prone to split, and may reduce the gas-causing sugars found in beans. Discarding the soaking water will discard some of these sugars that have leached out of the bean. Dried Beans should be covered and soaked in cold water for 4 hours, not necessarily overnight. That myth was just for convenience sake. Most dried beans do not asbsorb significant water after the first 4 hours. (And after 18 hours the beans begin to think you want a pot of sprouts instead of a pot of beans!)

Quick Soaks: You can shorten the soaking process time to 2 hours if you use boiling water when beginning the soak or.... shorten this time further to 1 hour by boiling the beans uncovered for 2 minutes before covering and soaking or.... shorten this time even further to about 15 minutes by placing the beans in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover beans, (about 2 1/2 cups for 1 pound of dried beans) and presure cook for 2 minutes after the pressure regulator begins rocking. Then, turn off heat and let pressure slowly excape.

After four hours of soaking you may want to discard the soaking water, rince beans again in a colander and add fresh, filtered or bottled water. Add your other ingredients now. Do Not Add Salt Now. Both salt and acidic ingredients like molasses, ketchup or tomatoes will keep the beans from tenderizing. Salt will "pull" moisture and flavor out of any food which is why salt should be added just before serving. Depending on the variety of bean, ingredients may differ. For 1 pound of dried beans, I will usually add at least a 1/2 pound or more of some kind of meat� I like pork: ham bits, ham hocks, bacon or even spare ribs, the choice is yours. I usually will add a large chopped onion, thyme and marjoram for herbs as opposed to a bay leave, pepper and maybe a little tabasco sauce or smoke flavoring. Place meat in bottom of the pot, cover and bring to a rapid boil being careful not to let boil over. Immediatley reduce heat to a moderate simmer with cover on. In general, all beans will take about 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours to cook, but test them often by tasting a few, one at a time. Cook until a taste test proves tender. Add 1 to 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt to 1 pound of beans. Add pepper to taste. Adding salt at the end of cooking will give more flavorful and tender beans.
For best texture, cool the bean in their liquid still in the pot and set on a rack. Serve warm. Store beans in their cooking liquid, covered and refrigerated for 3 to 5 days or freeze in freezer containers at 0 degrees F. for 8 to 12 months.


This is a basic recipe for most white beans or blackeyes. I have a more extensive one for Pintos. Look for it soon as Western Bean Stew.