Beans that will not cook....

[Jeannine]

I have had more than my fair share of cookery challenges over the 55 years or so that I have been at it but this one is beating me.

I made chili, huge amount a few weeks ago. I soaked the beans overnight as I always have, changed the water, brought them up to the boil as I always  have, then cooked them half way.. meantime I am preparing meat, onion spices etc, at the half way mark I combine the two and let it simmer in a huge crockpot all day, but the beans were still semi hard at dinnertime so I did something else and left them till bedtime,, still the same. I cooled the chili overnight and froze it  in smaller batches as I was out for the next couple of days. Today I took it out defrosted it , microwaved it to hot quickly  then popped it into the 6 quart slow cooker and left it, it has cooked now for four hours and those beans still have not softened.

Any ideas..or jokes at this point as I need to see the rotten funny side !!

XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

[galina]

Maybe those beans were a few years old?  Can also depend on the season.  Basically, the seed coats can dry very hard and the beans need soaking for 24 hours or even for 2 days before they soften enough to cook. 

Half an hour in the pressure cooker should fix it- but if not: are you sure you didn't accidentally buy beads instead of beans.   

Older beans in the garden also need much longer to germinate than last season's beans.  I bet those ten year old special beans of yours took nearly a fortnight to come up?  Same issue with very dry seed coats.

[tricia]

Hi Jeannine - I had the same thing happen to me with chick peas a few months ago. They never did soften. Luckily, the meals were only for me so I was able fish most of them out when dishing up.

Tricia xx 

[Jeannine]

Yep, I think I should paint them and sell them on Etsy.

They were a few years old Galina but I have used them before so who knows, anyway at the last taste they are just beginning to soften.

The really daft thing is I do this same thing now and again. I go through my eating bean stash and make a huge big batch of chilli to use up the older ones, never worrying about which beans are in there. I have done it forever and it always works out. This batch had (among others) some Gigantes which I did not grow but picked up at the Greek store in the hope they would grow,,they didn't, now the blasted things won't cook either!! The old runners and pintos etc are cooked just fine and amazingly they are not falling apart.

I should call it Hundred Variety Beef and Bean  Chili.

I did get some good gigantes beans sent from Greece which did grow .

The really daft bit is how much chili... I have a electric roaster which also doubles as a very large crockpot..slow cooker... it holds about 6 gallons,   and yep it was full !! Todays rehash is just 6 quarts so I still have a lot to redo.

I must be daft

XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

Now there's an idea... note to family..don't eat the big white ones.

XX Jeannine

[GrannieAnnie]

An American Civil War recipe stated: Don't add salt when cooking dried beans until they are almost finished cooking and softened as salt makes the beans hard.  Did you happen to add salt early on?

[Jeannine]

Yes, I always do, it is added when the chili spices go in, never had a problem before..just don't understand it, as Galina said they must be old beans..they must  be very  very old beans LOL

XX Jeannine

[pumkinlover]

I have a couple of jars of beans which have been used as baking beans for blind baking flan cases. Any chance you could have the same? Just a thought with you moving etc? things may have got muddled up?

[Jeannine]

Good thought, but I use rice and it has it's own container clearly marked XX Jeannine

[pumkinlover]

Good thought, but I use rice and it has it's own container clearly marked XX Jeannine

That's much more organized than me then!

[Susiebelle]

Not a rescue remedy I know but I did pick up a good tip when cooking chickpeas or soya beans and that is although it is generally recommended not to add salt during cooking process add salt at soaking stage then rinse well and cook as normal - it really works honest! so based on your experience Jeannine I think I will try the same with older beans that come to the pot.

[Duke Ellington]

I always cook my dried beans in a pressure cooker. Pressure cooking softens up even the toughest beans in next to no time.

[Jeannine]

Duke, I agree but I have never had to do it with the beans I use for this huge chili recipe before as it cooks a long time. They are all gone now so hopefully that is the end of the fiasco..well except I have the other half a ton still in the freezer that need to be done over, I think I might just chuck it. I would have a go at presssure cooking it but the sauce is too thick, then I thought water it down a lot, pressure cook it, then let it boil down again..but I think I have had it now. Last night they did eat it for supper and very few large white beans were not eaten but .....

Anyway lamb chops today

XX Jeannine