How to Properly Soak Dried Beans
You’ve stocked up on a huge supply of dried beans. They are loaded with protein and nutrients that are essential for your survival diet. You don’t need to hunt or use meat as often. You’re prepared. But, now you need to make them ready for consumption, but what do you do? The answer is to pre-soak the beans before cooking them. This may sound redundant, but it’s important that the fibers inside the beans are able to slowly absorb water because cook times are not long enough. Not soaking beans can lead to a finished product that is chewy, contains hard parts, tastes bad and is otherwise inedible.
The Long Soak
The best way to soak beans is over a period of 8-12 hours prior to cooking. This will give the beans ample time to soften and produce a nice, smooth and consistent finished product. Rinse the beans and place them in a large stockpot. Add ten cups of water for every two cups of beans. Let them rest for the prescribed amount of time before dumping the water and giving them another rinse. While you don’t necessarily need to dump the water, it will remove a lot of the impurities that can reduce the quality of the finished product. However, if you need to conserve the water, you can skip this step and still have beans that are edible. Immediately cook the beans according to your recipe.
The Heat Soak
You can soak the beans by shocking them with hot water for a few minutes in order to shorten the cooking time later. This method doesn’t reduce the overall quality of the finished product, but it is a little less than perfect compared to the long soak. The benefit to this method is that the beans can cook faster, which means that you need less fuel or energy to prepare them.
Add ten cups of water for every two cups of beans and place on high heat. Bring to a boil and continue cooking for another two to three minutes. Immediately remove the beans from the heat and let them cool for anywhere from 4-24 hours, depending on the beans that you are using. Harder, denser beans will need to soak for longer whereas softer ones can be ready in a shorter amount of time. Drain the water and rinse before cooking for the best tasting finished product.
The Quick Soak
You can also shock the beans into rehydration by placing ten cups of water for every two cups of beans in a stockpot. Bring to a boil and let cook for three minutes. Drain the water, rinse and then cook immediately. The finished product will not have the same consistency or texture as what you get from the slower soaking, but it will be edible.
Black Eyed Peas
You can follow the quick soak method for preparing black eyed peas. However, you should consider cooking them in some beef or chicken broth once they have been boiled and drained. This will enhance the flavor and the salt and minerals in the broth will also help the peas to soften and give you the consistency that you’re looking for.
Keep in mind that this is just a general guide, and you should research specific soak times for different varieties of beans. This will ensure that you are getting the perfect finished product every time while conserving resources as much as possible.
