Beans

Cooking beans

1. Rinse your beans and look for debris. Beans are harvested and not cleaned before shipping to ensure no spoilage. But this means rocks, sticks, dirt, and other stuff stays in the bags sometimes. Save this rinse water for your plants.
2. Soak your beans at least 6 hours before cooking. Cover them by a couple inches of water and check in to make sure they are covered once they soak up the water. You can technically skip this, but it helps with cooking times, flavor, texture, and more.

Cook the beans

Consider adding a piece of kombu to your beans when cooking. This helps reduce gas[2] and adds a little flavor.

In general, you can test the doneness[3] by taking a bean out and making sure it's not so hard it breaks up and it's not so soft it is mushy. If you overcook the beans, make a dip or hummus.

• Pressure cooker: I cook beans as one part beans to two parts water. So one cup of dried beans I'd cook in two cups of water. Add a little bit of oil to ensure nozzle/filter doesn't clog. Cook for about 30 to 35 minutes on high pressure.
• Stove: Cover with two inches of water, bring to boil, then simmer and partially cover for 1-3 hours.

Save the broth

The bean broth can be used for thickening soup, making stock, bread, cooking more beans, or whatever else you need. You can also freeze it.

Weight in different states[1]

This is for one cup of black beans. One cup of black beans is equivalent to two drained 15.5 oz cans.

References

1. https://earthtoveg.com/calc/beans/
2. https://zerowastechef.substack.com/p/save-money-on-groceries-eat-more
3. https://www.tastingtable.com/1981597/bean-test-ready-to-eat/

Last modified: 202510262212