Beans, Beans, Beans!!!
 

My DH decided that we needed beans in the garden, so he went all out, planting different varieties. He can't remember their names, so I'll have to look them up. I think there are Tiger's Eye, Cattle, Calypso and a few others. We now have a 5 gallon bucket full of beans! I've been shelling them and putting them in jars for the winter. That's a task! Now, I have to figure ways to cook them all. Ideas please. :)

This will be an interesting thread to follow. I've never grown beans other than fresh green beans, so have no direct experience with drying or storing beans. I, of course, with several years as a vegetarian myself, have cooked a lot of beans. Beans are low on the gylcemic index and still allowable to me -- just this week used a can of kidney beans.

I did have a friend whose parents had a small eastern Washington farm, she used to give me bags of what they called Glean Beans -- that is the mixed up gleanings of the crops. I used them like the multi-bean soup recipes -- after a thorough cleaning!

Just before we left Seattle, I discovered Peruvian beans, they have several different names. Great big beans with a nice texture, they look like overgrown limas but with a different taste.

Oooohhh...Peruvian beans sound interesting. I'll have to look those up in the seed catalogs. This year we have some beans that look like Limas, but with brown and white mottling. I haven't found the names of those yet. We didn't get too many of them though, so I'll cook just a few up for tasting and plant the rest next year.

We grow some shelling beans every year and then save some for planting the next season. We decided to plant more than usual because grocery prices are so high right now and I don't think that they are headed down anytime soon. Growing beans is way cheaper than buying them and they taste so fresh and beany. You just have to take time and energy to soak and cook them.

Last night I made "15-minute Black Bean Soup," which took much long than that to prepare. It was delicious! Even my son tried it.

I would cook all beans like I do dry, frozen, or fresh beans. Simmer until tender.
I mash brown beans to make refried beans. Maybe try a bean burger. If you bake the cooked beans to get dry before mashing into a burger, the patty won't fall apart.

My tip for dried beans:
I generously cover the dried beans with chicken stock, then add a can of Ro-tel tomatoes and chiles. After about an hour, I check to add more water. This way, they soak up broth, not water.

I was just talking with a friend yesterday who had a bumper crop of black beans. She likes to can them, rather than keeping them dry. She has a new glass top stove (family said propane smells), so she was using the pressure canner,, needed for beans, on a propane burner outside while doing some lawn work. The burner was on the lowest setting.

She noticed that the canner looked odd and went to check it. The burner, even on the lowest setting, was too hot. All water had evaporated and the canner actually started to slump due to melting! One jar was cracked, some had beans burned to the bottom, all were ruined. As was the canner. She was, of course, quite upset. Loss of the harvest, her canner and her time.

I love all kinds of beans, but unfortunately, DH does not. Too much tummy trouble, regardless of what he tries.

Oh...that's too bad. She lost her beans AND her canner. :(

I have a small amount of black beans that I might try to make some sweet bean paste with to use in making Asian pastries. That will be an adventure.

Oh...that's too bad. She lost her beans AND her canner

I'd have a new prophane cooktop for compensation with a good vent fan over it.

If she wants to can anything with a pressure cooker, she will have to figure something out. Maybe in the garage or another outbuilding (she has a quilting studio in a former chicken coop!).

My canning days are over. I freeze tomatoes and applesauce, but everything else comes from the grocery during winter. Fresh fruits and vegetables are so much more readily available than they were back in the day. Things like peaches aren't available year round, and store bought canned are awful, so I just enjoy them when in season.

I've never had much success with dried beans. They are ALWAYS too hard, regardless of soaking or cooking method. Growing up, we always used dried kidney beans as they were one of the cash crops Dad grew on the farm. Less expensive and easier to keep on hand, but they don't work for me.