ok, so I had my first bad "old" dry bean experience

[Robert Z]

I have heard people talk about dried beans getting too old and not cooking up proporly, but I had never experienced it. So last weekend I decide to make some nice bean soup. I let the beans soak from about 8:00pm Friday night until 9:00am Saturday, then simmered them with some ham pieces for several hours. I sampled them and found that they had a weird "crunchyness" to them. I let them simmer more, then sampled, again with the crunchiness. I simmered them until they started breaking down and still I had crunchy bits of beans.

 

I bought these beans a while back for my "long term store" and while I am sure they still retain their nutritional value they are not very good. What can be done to keep this from happening? If I where to have sealed them in Mylar bags with o2 absorbers would I have avoided this? What about food grade buckets with good rubber seals?

[Canned Nerd]

Removal of air/oxygen is the only thing you can do to extend their life/freshness. Just putting in a bucket with a good seal will not work unless you also toss in some OA's. I use my FoodSaver to vacuum seal in 2 lb bag amount since that is generally the amount I use at a time.

 

 

[etp777]

Once they reach that stage, try grinding them into flour and experiment with adding (not replacing!) it in regular recipes, ro for thickening soups, sauces, stews.

[ScrubbieLady]

I have been taught that I shouldn't put my seasonings (ham hock, salt, pepper, etc) in with my beans until they begin to soften. If you add the seasonings before that point, they may stay crunchy.

 

The person that taught me this routinely kept a couple of years worth of dried beans on hand.

[Homemaker]

I've read that you should hold off putting in any tomato product until after the beans are getting soft. Apparantly the acid in the tomatoes hinders the beans from softening.

[Robert Z]

I dont add any tomato to my beans at all. I hav ebeen making them the same way for years and have never had this issue, the only difference is these beas where stored in a large tupperware for numerous years.

 

When I make beans I also make country ham at the same time, I will put a whole country ham in my stock pot and simmer it until the meat almost comes off the bone, I wil then remove the whole thing and let it cool to where I can touch it. I then remove all of the nice meat and pitch the bone with scrubby pieces of meat back in, then add all of my seasonings (bay leafs, black pepper, whole mustard seeds, corriander, cumin, no salt the ham brought enough) chop up several onions add them, lots of garlic. Boil it all until the meat has come off the bone and the onions have prettty much disolved, then add half of the beans. Simmer the beans for a while until they just start to break apart (these will be the thickener) then add the rest of the beans and simmer until they are softened but not mushy.

 

Server with griddle cakes or corn bread with butter!!!!

 

 

[Jake]

Robert, you left out two vital pieces of information. What is your adress and what time is dinner.

[margoc]

I'll bet beans like that would be good for canning, sometimes they get a little soft and mushy canned. Oh, I still like them and can them, but they would be improved by holding their texture more.

[mommato3boys]

Robert, what kind of beans were these?

[TurtleMama]

Can I come over too?? I love me some beans!! LOL

[Andrea]

It's too close to lunchtime. What's your address. I'll bring the cornbread and honey butter. Your recipe sounds delicious!

[Robert Z]

hehe, everybody is welcome! I will make a big old pot and we can go to town!

 

I am using pinto beans.

[Jake]

I recently bought some navy beans a walmart and had that problem that they didn't want to get soft when I made baked beans. Also, I couldn't believe how dirty they were. There were more than the usual number of dirt and stone pieces in and the beans that shoud have been white were grey. When I washed them you wouldn't believe how dirty the water was. No more walmart beens for me.