rehydrating dried black beans?

[ithappened]

I must be doing it wrong!

I soak the beans overnight/24 or more hours and then I usually have to cook them for 2 hours on low-medium heat and usually they are still not soft and taste still dry inside.

Is there a trick to same day black bean dehydrating I don't know?

[dachshundqueen]

They were really old/sat on the shelf or bulk bin when you bought them. Try to find a store with higher turnover.

It happens. The older they are the longer it takes to cook them and sometimes they just don't come out right no matter what.

Liz

[mamadelbosque]

I don't soak. I just throw black beans or pinto beans or whatever in the crockpot in the morning and cook on high for 6+ hours, whenever I notice that they're 'done' I turn'm down to low/warm untill its time for dinner...

[Ruthla]

IME, even soaked beans take WAY longer than 2 hours to cook.

[Mpenny1001]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

I don't soak. I just throw black beans or pinto beans or whatever in the crockpot in the morning and cook on high for 6+ hours, whenever I notice that they're 'done' I turn'm down to low/warm untill its time for dinner...

That's exactly what I do. I've never had a pot of beans fail using this method.

[Magelet]

Even Soaked black beans might need more like 4-6 hours to cook.


Also, make sure you do not add salt until after the beans have cooked to soft, because otherwise they never get soft. You didn't mention how you salt them, so I don't know.

[Chamomile Girl]

I don't have the patience for boiling them...I use a pressure cooker. That way you don't have to soak them first.

[Quaniliaz]

Originally Posted by Chamomile Girl

I don't have the patience for boiling them...I use a pressure cooker. That way you don't have to soak them first.

I agree - and it takes a very short amount of time to cook. Here is a chart. I usually still soak.

[ursusarctos]

Soaking is helpful because it removes some of the stuff in the beans that cause gassiness and reduces cooking time. At least that has been my experience.
As a PP said, adding salt while the beans are cooking makes them take longer to cook.
That said, I have never soaked black beans overnight and then had them take longer than 2 hours to cook. I suspect they are just old. The same thing happened to me once with some split peas that didn't look too good - I soaked overnight, then boiled for like 3 hours, and they just didn't get completely soft.

[Therese's Mommy]

Well, when I soak my beans (pintos, blacks, kidneys, chick) for more than 4 hours I find that they cook up super fast, usually less than 90 minutes. You do not want to add any salt to the water before the beans are cooked or your beans will not soften.

[almadianna]

I dont soak but even soaked 2 hours is not enough. Are you doing it with salt or tomatoes? Both will slow down the softening of them... but just do it for longer.

[ithappened]

no salt, just water. I usually cook them for 2 -4 hours on low heat before attempting to eat them after soaking them for 24-48 hours.

[almadianna]

if you only want to cook them for 2 or so hours you need to do it on higher heat, if you are going to cook them on low you need to cook them longer.

[ursusarctos]

Originally Posted by ithappened

no salt, just water. I usually cook them for 2 -4 hours on low heat before attempting to eat them after soaking them for 24-48 hours.

Originally Posted by almadianna

if you only want to cook them for 2 or so hours you need to do it on higher heat, if you are going to cook them on low you need to cook them longer.

The important thing is that they're simmering the whole time and not just sitting in less than boiling water. If they don't cook in 2-4 hours of simmering without salt after 1-2 days of soaking then they're probably just old or low quality or something... normal beans don't stay hard like that.

[ithappened]

I've come to the conclusion they are crappy beans since I just bowled them for 3 hours after soking them for almost 2 days and they were still dry.

Does anyone know where I can buy bulk black beans online in Europe?

[AJP]

Salt actually does not make beans take longer to cook. I add salt at the beginning of bean cooking (after soaking) all the time, along with other spices, and the beans cook just fine within a normal cooking time (which varies by variety of bean). Acid will toughen the beans and make them take longer to cook, so things like tomatoes or anything else acidic should only be added after the beans are all the way soft, but salt is okay. Really. I know it's a very common kitchen myth, but not an accurate one.

[ursusarctos]

Originally Posted by ithappened

I've come to the conclusion they are crappy beans since I just bowled them for 3 hours after soking them for almost 2 days and they were still dry.

Does anyone know where I can buy bulk black beans online in Europe?

Where in Europe are you? If you're in western E or Scandinavia (except for small towns) you can probably find them in bulk at your local health food store. Or is that where you already got them and now they won't cook?

Originally Posted by AJP

Salt actually does not make beans take longer to cook. I add salt at the beginning of bean cooking (after soaking) all the time, along with other spices, and the beans cook just fine within a normal cooking time (which varies by variety of bean). Acid will toughen the beans and make them take longer to cook, so things like tomatoes or anything else acidic should only be added after the beans are all the way soft, but salt is okay. Really. I know it's a very common kitchen myth, but not an accurate one.

It's always interesting to hear this. I come from the no salt camp and in fact the one time that I accidentally cooked legumes (red lentils) with salt (accidentally fried the onions for a soup in salted butter) they did in fact take about twice as long as normal. However it is possible that they were just bad quality, like the op's black beans.

[almadianna]

Originally Posted by ursusarctos

It's always interesting to hear this. I come from the no salt camp and in fact the one time that I accidentally cooked legumes (red lentils) with salt (accidentally fried the onions for a soup in salted butter) they did in fact take about twice as long as normal. However it is possible that they were just bad quality, like the op's black beans.

Same here, I am Mexican and we never use salt when cooking our beans... my husband has done it a couple of times and it has always taken forever.

[AJP]

I used to cook beans without salt, too. I saw an episode of Good Eats years ago that talked about it, he tested it by cooking identical batches of beans with and without salt, with no difference in cooking times. (At least, I think it was Good Eats, it was at least 5 years ago so I don't remember for sure.) After that, I stopped worrying about adding salt to beans, and notice no difference in cooking times when I do add salt. I haven't done the experiment with two batches with and without salt. On the occasions when I don't specifically add salt with spices at the beginning, I almost always at least throw in a ham hock or ham or bacon skin, all of which contain a significant amount of salt, and in all scenarios my beans cook within 2 or 3 hours on low heat.

I also just read a little blurb in Saveur magazine about this very topic, the writer was surprised at one of the featured recipes calling for adding salt to the beans right at the beginning, but tried it anyway and they came out perfect. It says, in part, "And the salt? Adding it didn't change the texture of the beans or alter the cooking time, so salt as freely as your taste dictates. A final revelation: for one version we tried, we removed the tomatoes and noticed that the beans cooked a lot faster. Acidic ingredients, it turns out, slow down the cooking process dramatically. Who knew?" from the June/July 20009 issue, http://www.saveur.com/article/Mise-en-Place/Good-Beans (it also talks about their experiment involving cooking times with soaked vs. unsoaked beans).

[ursusarctos]

You know, AJP, I actually do believe you. I have seen other sources to indicate this too. But I'm still going to cook my beans unsalted I have noticed that bean preparation is one of those almost religious things - bean prep threads always get really long, and everyone has their pet "really right way" to do it