Use dry beans instead of canned

Sunday, December 11, 2016

You can easily use dried beans in place of canned beans.  It takes a little longer to prepare them, but using dried beans saves space and money.

The older the bean, the harder they are to rehydrate.  You can order them on-line (Amazon has them), buy them from your local co-op, or some grocery stores (like Whole Foods) have bulk bins with many varieties of beans available.

For a crockpot of chili, I use a half pound or 3/4 cup each of 3 different types of beans.  We use kidney beans, pinto beans, black turtle beans, chili beans, great northern beans, the fun speckled beans, or any other that sparks our interest; there are many to choose from!

I usually soak the beans overnight.  This allows them to sprout, taking them from a seed to a plant with more nutrients.  In the morning, I rinse them well and put them on the stove.  Continue to cook them until they are just slightly crunchy.  Rinse well, then they are ready for the crockpot! 

If you don't soak them overnight, do not despair, you can still use them for the day's football chili.  Rinse the dried beans, put in a large pot, cover with water, and boil gently until just slightly crunchy.  Rinse, if you desire, and they are ready to add to your favorite chili recipe.

Cook them up in the crock, just like you would canned beans.  It is a lot cheaper (about 70% less), you avoid BPA from cans (Eden does has BPA free canned beans), and you get to rinse them multiple times which decreases tummy gas.  Rinsing does remove some nutrition so if you aren't sensitive to gas, use them without the final rinse.

There are so many cool kinds of beans and they are super easy to grow.  Try some in your garden next summer.  Legumes-peas for spring, beans for summer