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Dry Beans That Won't Cook

Suzette Thib

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posted 1 week ago

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Hello!

Our pantry has a huge bag of dry red kidney beans that will not cook. I have tried many methods of soaking and prepping and even still they are just terribly unpalatable by serving time.We are looking at probably about 20lbs remaining (of 25lbs). Compost? Garbage? Plant as a kill crop? What to do?

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R. Ford

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posted 1 week ago

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Give it a shot with a long soak and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per lb of beans. Then rinse well and add 1/4 tsp of baking soda to your cooking water for them. Try not to put anything acidic in there with them until they are the tenderness desired. If they still wont soften, they may be too far gone and would be a good candidate for the compost pile.

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Robert Ray

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Have you tried a pressure cooker? I have some beans from storage that just won't soften up unless I use my Instapot.

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Megan Palmer

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Just to qualify long soak, at least overnight may be necessary if not longer.

The water may also need to be changed during the soaking time.

Another vote for the pressure cooker to cook the beans after soaking.

Let us know how you get on.

Pearl Sutton

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I had good luck with an old batch of beans that I put in the pressure cooker with salt, cooked them for an hour under pressure, left them on the stove overnight closed up tight, and then cooked for another hour of pressure before opening them.
Nothing else added.

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Christopher Weeks

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Suzette Thib wrote:I have tried many methods of soaking and prepping

It might help if you told us at least the most extreme thing you've tried so that we can scale our answers.

If you've already tried x, y, and z -- there's no point in me suggesting those.

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Carla Burke

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Are you by any chance adding anything acidic (like tomatoes, lemon, etc), in cooking them? Any acid at all will halt the softening, pretty much instantly.

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Suzette Thib

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Location: South Zone 7/8 - Formerly Deep South, Zone 9

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I have tried a 24 hour soak with a water change at the 12 hr mark. I had also tried to long 12 hr soak plus "blanching" them with boiling water at the end, and then putting them to boil as usual. I have also tried a 12 hour soak and then normal boiling, cool to room temp and add water and boil again. I will try to do the soak with the baking soda. I believe I tried that one of the times, but it is worth it again. We Cajuns love our red beans and rice!

So far I do not have a insta-pot. We are in an old home (1940s) and last time I used my insta-pot, I blew a fuse and fried the insta-pot insta-ly HAHA

Edit to say: I just cook them water no seasoning. I only season once they are finished. In my above attempts, the pots of beans never passed the 7-bean test but it was time to eat so I seasoned, simmered and served.

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Anne Miller

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posted 1 week ago

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Robert Ray wrote:Have you tried a pressure cooker? I have some beans from storage that just won't soften up unless I use my Instapot.

This is what worked for old dry beans, the best use for an Instant Pot.

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K Kaba

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Location: MD, USA. zone 7

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The added baking soda's a good idea. If your water is a bit on the acidic side, that'd counter it.

Pearl Sutton

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I don't own an instapot. I use a basic pressure cooker, cheap, goes on the stove top, doesn't blow breakers, have digital stuff, and is more useful to me. Not a pressure canner, different animal :D
Random pic off the net, this sort of thing:

Christopher Weeks

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Maybe find a stove top pressure cooker at a thrift store. I haven’t looked, but there must be a bunch of them there since instant pots and their peers became popular.

John Weiland

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Suzette Thib wrote:...... We Cajuns love our red beans and rice!

If all else fails, use them for a bean mural called "Cajun Love!"....???

Accompanying photo from https://www.pbsutah.org/blogs/pbs-kids-utah/bean-art-craft/

BeanArt.jpg

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Megan Palmer

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Pearl Sutton wrote:I don't own an instapot. I use a basic pressure cooker, cheap, goes on the stove top, doesn't blow breakers, have digital stuff, and is more useful to me. Not a pressure canner, different animal

Snap, ours is a stove top pressure cooker that must be over 40 years old.

Had to buy a new seal and valve about 20 years ago and touch wood, still going strong.

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Deane Adams

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If you can't eat em, grind the beans for the critters. Or give the twenty or so pounds to someone that has pigs and or chickens, they can grind the beans for their animals.

Heddwch

PS - have you checked to see if these beans will spout???

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Jay Angler

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To cover some of the other points, assuming you can't get the cooking to work:

1. There's a good chance that if the beans won't cook, they also won't germinate. The general rule is that if the beans float on water, they won't germinate, but "general rules" aren't true 100% of the time! Little harm in trying, but I'd probably do so indoor and transplant any successful plants.

2. I would absolutely compost them before garbaging them, but likely add just a pound or two at a time - not the whole 20 lbs at once.

3. I would mix them in with bits of twigs and wood and biochar them in my wood stove. (We use a restaurant warming pan to biochar in our woodstove - not perfect, but it's what I can manage at this time.) You could try putting some in wrapped in some newspaper as part of the kindling, but I'm always looking for small stuff to biochar.

4. Drill holes in them and get kids to make necklaces out of them?

In the cooking direction, I'd back up the use of a pressure cooker, but if you don't know anyone who has one they're willing to lend, they can be a bit pricey. If you buy one second hand, be prepared to have to buy it a new seal, as that's a regular replacement item that can time out even if the cooker isn't being used.

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Anne Miller

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posted 1 week ago

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Maybe fermenting the beans before cooking them might soften the beans so they will cook.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

Carla Burke

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I'm not a fan of the instant pot, for things like this (if I'm being frank, I don't like them for much of anything), but much prefer a classic pressure cooker.

Robert Ray

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You can always make bean flour. I do green pea flour too.

Our inability to change everything should not stop us from changing what we can.

Thom Bri

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Honestly I'd just throw them out on top the garden and if some grew next year fine, and if they didn't, that's fine too.

But 20 Lbs? I'd hate to throw away that much food.

Riona Abhainn

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This is why my husband and I avoid dried beans unless we know something about them, how old they are, etc. because they can be really challenging if too old.

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Suzette Thib

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Location: South Zone 7/8 - Formerly Deep South, Zone 9

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posted 4 days ago

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Thank you for the many ideas! This is so wonderful.
My neighbor is hugely into processing foods so I shared half with them. Kept 10lbs to experiment with. Have to get some more smoked sausage and then I will update on methods that worked. I will try the baking soda first. Our kitchen does not have room for me to add another pot at this time, but I will keep my eyes peeled during thrift store runs. In the meantime I will go through kitchen cabinets in hopes of clearing space for a classic pressure cooker.

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Rebecca Norman

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posted 4 days ago

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I've used the baking soda trick with old beans and it really works. I don't add it while soaking -- I've always added after I tried cooking the beans, but after the normal amount of time cooking they hadn't softened. I added a little baking soda and it fizzed impressively, indicating the beans had gone acid. Stirred that in and added a little more, and if it still fizzed, I stirred it in and added a tiny bit more. Then after a little more boiling the beans softened. I've done this in a couple different houses. I add lemon juice or tomato afterwards to counteract the baking soda flavor, and they are fine.

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Angela Kantola

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posted 4 days ago

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I’ve struggled with old beans, too. I echo the recommendations for baking soda and pressure cooking. I would also add that if you have hard water, soaking and cooking the beans in distilled or bottled water can be helpful. Our water has a hardness of 10. We have 3 gallon jugs that we refill at the grocery store water machine for $.25 a gallon. Here’s how I cook my old beans. Soak 2 cups of beans in 10 cups of bottled or distilled water for 24 hours in 6-quart stovetop pressure cooker pot. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 to 5 minutes, remove from heat, and let sit for four or more hours. Add 2 tablespoons oil (I use coconut oil), then place lid on pressure cooker, bring to pressure and cook for 30 minutes (you may need less time, but 30 minutes is what’s needed at my I 7,300’ elevation). Remove from heat and let pressure release naturally (slow release). You can change the water after soaking, but I’m cheap and don’t and it seems to work out fine.

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