Ask The Bean Brain

Pasta Professor

Welcome! Many consumers are still unfamiliar with the wonderful world of beans. To help you successful develop your own bean cuisine, the information below presents a few basic facts about how to buy, cook and store beans.

Storage
Beans will last indefinitely when stored in a tightly sealed glass jar in a cool, dry place. Do not refrigerate beans, as dampness tends to make them tough.

Sorting and Washing Beans
Before soaking, beans should be sorted to eliminate all foreign debris such as rocks and dirt. Afterwards, rinse beans thoroughly.

Soaking Beans
The vast majority of beans only need four hours to soak. Recipes with instructions to soak beans overnight are written that way merely for convenience. For every cup of dried beans add 4 cups of tepid water. After soaking, discard water and thoroughly rinse beans under tepid water before proceeding with your recipe.

Quick Soak Method
This method takes about one hour. Place beans and water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Remove pot from heat, cover and let stand for one hour. Discard water and thoroughly rinse beans under tepid water before proceeding with your recipe.

Note: Lentils, split peas, and black-eyed peas do not need soaked at all.

Nutrition
Beans are a nutritional powerhouse. They contain the highest percentage of protein of any vegetable. Beans contain eight of the nine essential amino acids (soybeans have all nine). When combined with grains (red beans and rice, beans and corn bread, etc.) beans offer as complete a protein in quantity and quality as meat. Beans also provide us with many valuable vitamins, fiber, and minerals. Beans are cholesterol free, low in fat, and help reduce the incidence of many cancer and heart related health problems.

Cooking Beans
Adding salt and acidic ingredients: Do not add salt to cooking beans until they are as tender as you like them. The same thing is true for acidic ingredients including lemon and pineapple juice, tomato products, wine, vinegar, and molasses. When these ingredients are added, beans will simply not get any softer. A good rule of thumb is after cooking the beans for one hour, press a few against the inside wall of the pot. If it mashes easily, the beans are done and ready for you to add the salt and other acidic ingredients.

Age
The older the bean, the longer it takes to soak and to cook. During the soaking process, a sign of old age is that old beans float. Simply pick these out and discard them. When storing beans, do not mix new and old beans.

Water
Hard water can dramatically increase cooking times for beans. Adding 1/8 teaspoon baking soda per cup of dried beans to the soaking and cooking water will shorten the cooking time. Depending on the water, this method sometimes results in mushy beans, less flavor, and reduced nutrition. Another idea is to stir-fry the pre-soaked beans for 10 minutes in oil. More nutrients are retained, and both texture and taste are improved.

Temperature
For the best results, beans should be cooked covered and slowly simmered on medium low heat. Because stoves vary in design, a good rule of thumb is to set the burner at a temperature on your stove so that the water rolls slowly. Boiling the beans will split the skins. Beans that have been cooked at a high temperature are also harder to digest.

Cookware
A heavy duty pot provides the best results for cooking beans. The lid should be tight fitting to retain the moisture.

Microwaves - I do not advise using a microwave to cook beans. Slowly simmered beans provide the best results. Microwaves are great for reheating bean dishes.
Pressure Cookers - Cooking beans in one of the newer pressure cookers is both safe and much faster than with a conventional pot or slow cooker. Using this method also retains more of the nutritional value found in our food. Never fill a pressure cooker above halfway. Always follow the instructions in the manual. Because it is hard to determine exactly how long it takes, check for doneness a few minutes before the beans are supposed to be done. Then simply finish cooking the beans the conventional way.

Reducing Gas
The problem some of us have from eating beans is caused by Oligosaccharides - complex sugars - found in beans, which are difficult to digest. Some ideas to help with this problem include:

when soaking the beans, change the water 2 to 3 times. The complex sugars are leached out into the water as the beans soak and then are thrown away.
Eat more beans! Over time, your digestive system will adjust to them.
In Mexico, they eat lots of beans. To reduce gas, they use an herb called epazote, which is cooked with the beans. The herb is often found in health food stores.
Some people use a commercial product called Beano that is added to beans right before they are eaten. This product is available in many drug stores.
Make sure that the beans are thoroughly cooked.
When using canned beans, make sure to rinse them before using.

Storing Cooked Beans
Cooked beans may be stored safely in the refrigerator for three to four days. Frozen beans may be safely stored for up to one year. A great idea is to freeze one or two cup portions of beans in sandwich bags or small plastic storage containers.

Heirloom Beans
Go to most any large supermarket these days and you are likely to find the same 8 - 12 types of beans on the shelf. In reality, up until the early 1900’s there were literally hundreds of different beans grown in America. The need for only growing beans which could be grown economically on a large scale resulted in the current limited varieties. Fortunately, several die-hard farmers and a group called Seed Savers have successfully saved many of these beans from going the way of the dinosaur. Today, many of these unusual and beautifully pattered beans are once again being grown on small plots by far sighted pioneer farmers dedicated to saving these. Purely American is proud to offer many of these heirloom beans along with creative recipes for your enjoyment under our new Pioneer Harvest brand.

Other Bean Tips

One cup of dried beans equals about 2.5 cups (4 servings) of cooked beans.
When reheating beans add a little water or broth to make up for any moisture loss.
Pureed leftover beans can be added to sauces and soups.
most beans are interchangeable in recipes with the exception of chick peas and Favas. These take longer to soak and cook than other beans.

If you have any other questions about beans, please contact me THE BEAN BRAIN at expert@purelyamerican.com and I will do my best to help you discover more about the wonderful world of cooking with beans. Have a great day!

Sincerely, The Bean Brain

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