Soaking Beans

[Guest guest]

All beans should be 'sorted'. Checking for small rocks, pieces of

dirt,and damaged beans. All beans should then be washed. Several

washings with cold water in a strainer works great. Not all beans and

lentils have to be soaked . Sometimes it depends on your altitude. I

live in Colorado and if I didn't soak beans overnight they would never

get done. Always try to buy " this year's beans' from your local area

farmers if possible. Old beans often have little flavor and do not cook

up tender. I remove my local Pinto Beans from their packaging and place

them in a glass jar for storage. Sometimes I place the jars back into

the decorative burlap bags for storage. I just like the looks of the

burlap bags and always save them but the beans do not stay fresh if

left in them.

Deanna in Colorado