Cooking Dried Beans

Beans are easy to grow and harvest.  They're high on my list of plants recommended for new gardeners.  As dried beans, they also store beautifully in containers for a long time, making beans a favorite for people who like to keep a little food put by for hard times.  If you're not growing beans, then you can always pick them up at the market.  They are VERY affordable.  

Cooking our dried beans, however, seems to be a bit of a dying art.  Many of us eye those cute little bags in the market, and opt for the cans instead, not knowing where to begin with dried beans.  Let me tell you, cooking dried beans is super easy.  Here's a video that I found showing you how to cook beans simply and painlessly.

If you cook more beans than you need for one meal, then you can freeze the extra for another day!  I usually use my slow cooker to cook beans.  The process is exactly the same as cooking on the stove, except that the beans usually take closer to 2-4 hours on the low setting in a crock pot.  You can play with seasonings as you see fit.  I usually cook a large pot, and freeze them in dinner sized quantities.  When I need them, I grab a container and warm up the beans, using whatever seasonings fit the recipe that I'm making that night.  So my basic bean recipe is designed to create beans that are fully cooked, but ready to take on whatever regional flare I want to give it.  You can throw them into a soup pot, re-fry them, make a bean dip, whatever you like!  

Here's my Basic Bean Recipe.

1 lb bag of whatever bean you like

Water, Chicken or Vegetable Broth

1/2 an Onion, whole

1 Bay Leaf

Salt to Taste

Pepper to Taste

Old Bay Seasoning to Taste

Examine the beans for any rocks, or other non-bean debris.  Soak your beans for at least 6 hours in water.  Overnight is best.  This will soften them, and cut down on cooking time.  Drain off the water.  You can collect the water and dump it onto your garden beds.  Dump the beans into a crock pot.  Add water or broth to about an inch above the beans.  Set the cooker to the low setting.  Add the bay leaf.  Float your half onion on top of the liquid. No need to chop the onion, as you'll just be pulling it out later.  Add salt, pepper and Old Bay seasoning to taste.  I tend to like a lot.  Cook the beans until they are done (not hard anymore), probably a few hours.  Discard or compost the bay leaf and onion.  You can eat them as is, or add them to another recipe.  They're ready to go!  If you intend to freeze some, then let them cool before storing.  Use a slotted spoon to scoop the beans out.  You won't need the cooking liquid, though you can save it as a flavoring broth if you like.  This recipe can be sized up or down as you like, but don't use more than one bay leaf.

It's that simple!  Give growing and cooking beans a try!  You'll be amazed at how easy it is!