Cooking Dried Beans

The Presoak: Soak your beans in cold water over night, without salt. In the morning give them a rinse and put fresh water in the pot for cooking.

The Salting: Wait until your beans are completely tender before adding salt. Salt can make the tenderizing process not happen.

The Water: If you have hard water, your beans may not soften. Used bottled water if that is the case, or add some baking soda (1 tsp per quart).

The Age: Old beans mean tough beans. Make sure you buy your beans fresh and that they're from a market with a good turnover. Otherwise those beans may stay as hard as granit- even if you diligently apply all these fine steps.

I cook 2 pounds of beans at a time and then separate about 2 cups into each bag and freeze them. Just pull them out the night before you need them and put them in the fridge. Or you can quick thaw it in cold water for 15 minutes.