Pre-soaking Beans for Later Use?

smilingfaces88

February 19, 20080 found this helpful

yes you can pre soak beans.I have cooked them and froze them for a quick meal for chilli.
Worked good.

I've also heard of dehydrating beans. It's quicker to reconstitute the dehydrated beans than to soak the dried beans. Check it out! Good Luck :)

What I do I saw in the Mennonite cookbook. Soak beans overnight and in the morning, drain them and place in canning jars, add boiling water, the lids, and the pressure can them. Do not fill way up to the top, as the beans will swell more as they cook in the canner.

I never soak the beans. My mother told me a faster way. Put them in a pot with hot water and boil hard for about 20-30 minutes, adding water as needed, with the lid off. After that, add enough hot water to the pot, bring to a boil, put lid on. Cook about 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Much easier that soaking, and better flavor.

What I do when I go grocery shopping and buy dry beans. Once home the beans go to the freezer to stay until I am ready to use them. Then when ready I put the water on to boil. Once boiling I put in the frozen beans. It navy beans are done in less then a hour and the brown beans in 2 hours.

I soak mine overnight covered in a large bowl of water. Or you could soak all day and put in a crockpot or cook on stove.

susan
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February 21, 20080 found this helpful

I've done them according to my canning book. It says to: Cover beans with cold water and let stand 12-18 hours in cool place. Boil 30 minutes. Pack hot beans into jars leaving 1" headspace (cover with water if needed). Adjust caps and process pints 75 minutes under 10 pounds of pressure, quarts 90 minutes under 10 pounds of pressure.

I don't bother with the presoak, because I seldom plan that far ahead. But to quickly have dry beans available, I put them in a pot with cold water, bring to a boil. I let them boil only 5 minutes, then turn off the stove and let them sit covered for an hour. In that hour, I prepare whatever I am going to use them in. At the end of the hour (and 15 minutes or so it took to bring them to a boil) the beans are soft and ready to add to your chili.

D-Mc

April 9, 20080 found this helpful

I wash and sort the beans, cover them with water and bring to a rolling boil for 2 full minutes. Remove from heat and let them sit in the water for 1 hour.

Wanda Bailey C.

September 15, 20120 found this helpful

For the reasons you stated, I have started buying dehydrated dried beans from Harmony House Foods. They have a variety of dehydrated dried beans that cook in an average of 30 minutes without pre-soaking.