Commandments for Cooking Beans
By Miriam Hospodar
1. Rinse beans before cooking. This helps remove beans main source of oligosaccharides. Soaking also reduces cooking times by approximately 30 minutes.
2. Sort the beans to remove rocks and stones.
3. Place the beans in 3-4 times as water as there is beans. Most beans will absorp all the water in 4 hours but most beans you can soak for longer. If you forgot to soak your beans you can use the quick soaking method by bringing beans and water to a boil and letting it sit until it is time to cook the beans.
4. Simmer beans in fresh water never in their soaking water. Allow the beans to simmer at a low heat. Do not rush the beans cooking or the outer seal will become hard and the beans will not cook well.
5. Do not add cold water to simmering beans because it will make the surface of the bean less permeable.
6. Do not add salt to simmering beans because it toughens the beans skin and does not allow them to absorp more water.
7. Do not acid ingredients while beans are cooking. Such as tomato or lemon. This toughens the shell and hurts the beans absorption of water.
8. Do not add baking soda to water. This weakens the beans cell structure and decreases the nutritional value of the beans
9. Honor the cooking times of beans.
10. Pay attention to your beans or use a crockpot. Bring the beans to a boil on the stove and then place in a crockpot on high and continue cooking for the same amount of time as they would cook on the stove.
11. Always eat beans with spices and oil to aid in digestibility.
An example of cooking times for most beans: http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/driedbeantip.htm
2. Sort the beans to remove rocks and stones.
3. Place the beans in 3-4 times as water as there is beans. Most beans will absorp all the water in 4 hours but most beans you can soak for longer. If you forgot to soak your beans you can use the quick soaking method by bringing beans and water to a boil and letting it sit until it is time to cook the beans.
4. Simmer beans in fresh water never in their soaking water. Allow the beans to simmer at a low heat. Do not rush the beans cooking or the outer seal will become hard and the beans will not cook well.
5. Do not add cold water to simmering beans because it will make the surface of the bean less permeable.
6. Do not add salt to simmering beans because it toughens the beans skin and does not allow them to absorp more water.
7. Do not acid ingredients while beans are cooking. Such as tomato or lemon. This toughens the shell and hurts the beans absorption of water.
8. Do not add baking soda to water. This weakens the beans cell structure and decreases the nutritional value of the beans
9. Honor the cooking times of beans.
10. Pay attention to your beans or use a crockpot. Bring the beans to a boil on the stove and then place in a crockpot on high and continue cooking for the same amount of time as they would cook on the stove.
11. Always eat beans with spices and oil to aid in digestibility.
An example of cooking times for most beans: http://whatscookingamerica.net/Vegetables/driedbeantip.htm