Re: Problems with Cooking beans

[Guest guest]

Mara,

Your beans were too old and dried out. I found the following online:

Problems with Old Beans

Some beans refuse to soften, no matter what you do to them. You can soak them and cook them all day long, but they remain hard as pebbles. Believe it or not, the bean growers industry actually has a name for this problem; HTC Defect. HTC stands for "Hard To Cook." Seriously!

The main causes of HTC are improper storage and age. If beans have been stored at high temperatures (100ºF or higher) and/or there is high humidity (80%), or they been sitting on a shelf for a long time, chemical changes occur inside the bean and it essentially dies. As a consumer, we can't tell ahead of time if the beans we just bought will be affected by the dreaded HTC Defect. We can try to avoid this situation by checking the package dating, buying dry beans from a source that's likely to have fast turnover, and storing dried beans in an airtight container and a dry, dark, cool place.

As dry beans age, they lose moisture, and become increasingly harder to cook. I have been able to rehydrate and cook packaged beans that were 2 years old. However, I had to double the cooking time to get them tender enough to eat, and that probably resulted in a significant loss in nutrients. If there is any doubt about cooking old beans, do a test first. Soak 1-2 tablespoons of the beans and then pressure cook them for the recommended time. If they are not tender at that point, you'll need to decide if you want to proceed and cook them until they finally get tender, or toss them and buy fresh beans.

Terry

[Guest guest]

Mara,

Your beans were too old and dried out. I found the following online:

Problems with Old Beans

Some beans refuse to soften, no matter what you do to them. You can soak them and cook them all day long, but they remain hard as pebbles. Believe it or not, the bean growers industry actually has a name for this problem; HTC Defect. HTC stands for "Hard To Cook." Seriously!

The main causes of HTC are improper storage and age. If beans have been stored at high temperatures (100ºF or higher) and/or there is high humidity (80%), or they been sitting on a shelf for a long time, chemical changes occur inside the bean and it essentially dies. As a consumer, we can't tell ahead of time if the beans we just bought will be affected by the dreaded HTC Defect. We can try to avoid this situation by checking the package dating, buying dry beans from a source that's likely to have fast turnover, and storing dried beans in an airtight container and a dry, dark, cool place.

As dry beans age, they lose moisture, and become increasingly harder to cook. I have been able to rehydrate and cook packaged beans that were 2 years old. However, I had to double the cooking time to get them tender enough to eat, and that probably resulted in a significant loss in nutrients. If there is any doubt about cooking old beans, do a test first. Soak 1-2 tablespoons of the beans and then pressure cook them for the recommended time. If they are not tender at that point, you'll need to decide if you want to proceed and cook them until they finally get tender, or toss them and buy fresh beans.

Terry

[Guest guest]

thanks Terry.That explains it perfectly.MaraMara, Your beans were too old and dried out. I found the following online: Problems with Old BeansSome beans refuse to soften, no matter what you do to them. You can soak them and cook them all day long, but they remain hard as pebbles. Believe it or not, the bean growers industry actually has a name for this problem; HTC Defect. HTC stands for "Hard To Cook." Seriously!