How do i cook dried beans etc so they are soft to eat?
Here are the main reasons your beans might not cook quickly: 1. They are too old. Beans that are a couple years old or more may never cook soft. 2. You have hard water. Hard water creates changes in the beans that prevent them from softening. If this is your problem, use filtered or bottled water to cook your beans. The jury is out whether you should add salt to your beans at the beginning of cooking. I would suggest, for a change, that you do the opposite of whatever you’re doing now: If you have been adding salt at the beginning of cooking, add it towards the end, or vice-versa. Acid in beans retards cooking. Don’t add wine, tomato products, citrus or vinegar unless you want to slow down the beans’ softening. The same goes for molasses, which is high in minerals, and can cause the same problems as hard water. Tomatoes + molasses are the reason why you can bake beans for hours in the oven and they don’t fall apart. You’re soaking your beans long enough. You don’t mention what type the
