Cooking Beans at Altitude: To soak or not to soak?

[skinakedest]

 I have recently returned to vegetarianism, and thus have increased my bean consumption significantly.  I have acquired an interest in cooking my own beans due to attempts to limit my BPA consumption (BPA is in the lining of cans in canned goods).  Of course I turned to my trusty crock pot...   I have read conflicting advice about whether or not to

Comments

[neptunia67]

I live at 7,000 feet. I recommend either soaking them overnight, or bringing them to a boil on the stove, turning off and covering for an hour. Rinse, then put into the crock. With either of these methods, it will still take a full day to cook most beans in the crock, especially the biggies like pintos and kidney beans.

Also, hold off on the salt until the beans are cooked. It can make the skins tough.

Have fun!

[skinakedest]

Oooh! Thanks for the post salting advice. I didn't salt mine, but I'm glad I didn't!

[umlautless]

I'm always conflicted when I pick up canned beans, to have on hand when I forget I want something with beans, because HOLY CRAP the salt! So then I try to convince myself I won't be forgetful ... but then I am, and I find myself really wanting rice and beans, and I've got nada.

I always soak overnight (6-9 hours), and then cook all day (8-10 hours) -- but I live at like 12 feet above sea level.

[nerak_g]

I always rinse the canned version of any bean (or veg) really well to remove some of the sodium.

[morgan_lowri]

You can soak, parboil, and then freeze large batches of beans into quart or pint-size freezer bags, and then you'll have beans as you need.

When canned beans are a must, washing them takes a fair bit of the salt off.

[fallconsmate]

i normally soak *all* dried beans overnight. put some baking soda in the water you soak with, let them go overnight. before cooking, rinse the beans well.

this *does* help the gassy after-effects of most beans. and quite frankly, with my hubby, ANYTHING that will help that is a good thing. ;)

i put meat in, but if you added garlic and some basil and onion, they would all add a nice flavor to the beans. i cheat on the garlic, i keep one of those big jars in the icebox, with the chopped-garlic-in-water. that saves me a LOT of work when i'm cooking. and as hubby is a garlic fiend, this makes him happy too. :)

and neptunia is right, the boil and let sit works as an emergency measure, but i prefer the overnight soak because it seems to make the beans softer than the boil and let sit method.

[newsbean]

I'm in another mile high city and this works like a fucking charm: http://thepauperedchef.com/2009/06/90-minute-no-soak-beans.html

It was a revelation to me. I know it doesn't use the crock pot, but it really does work. When I use my crock, I do soak overnight.

[royalewcheeze]

I live in ABQ. I always soak them. and I always use my crock pot! so much easier. =)

[thechick]

Also in ABQ and I don't soak them and it works fine.