Maggie_Sue

Started at 8 am in slow cooker, soaked beans over night. 7 hours and the beans are still little Hockey pucks. Will the beans eventually cook down??? Have not made this before.

QuiltnLady1

It has been a long time since I handled my beans this way. I pre-soak my beans in boiling water for an hour to hour and a half before I put them in the slow cooker and they are fine after 7-8 hours on low. I they don't seem to soften up as well if they are soaked. That said, I would put them on high to speed up the softening,

Maggie_Sue

Ok bumped them up to high and cancelled dinner for tonight rescheduled to tomorrow!!!

nativetexan

ha,ha. reminds me of when my hubby put a pot of beans on the stove to soak, with a lid. he forgot and I didn't look, days later the beans had sprouted!!

GingerK

I soak them overnight and then simmer for 1 hour, drain, rinse and then make my recipe. For baked beans, my recipe calls for all of the above plus 6 hours in a 300 degree oven after combining with the other ingredients.

Since I learned that adding salt inhibits the beans from softening, I omit it until I am ready to season the dish. Has made a tremendous difference in the time needed.

quiltbuddy

I cook beans all the time and when that has happened to me the beans were old. Sometimes no amount of cooking is going to make them soft. They'll eventually be edible but will still be dry tasting. I have even thrown them in a pressure cooker and still could not get them soft!

Vinnie

I just put the beans, water, and other ingredients in the crockpot; cook on high for 2 hours; then turn to low and cook overnight. Sometimes, they go longer than 2 hours, and they turn out softer.

Needles

If you salt beans before they cook, you can cook them forever and they will always stay hard. I rarely add salt to anything until after being cooked, my way of cutting back on salt intake. The shaker is put on the table. But don't overcook beans with out it, they will turn to mush. However, some people prefer the harder beans in soup. I am not one of them.

NJ Quilter

Sorry, no help with your problem but the title of your message brought back memories. Haven't had bean soup since I was a child and my mother used to make it often. That was loooong ago.

Blackberry

I use the easy way. I just boil my ham bone until all of the meat will fall off, then cool and remove the congealed fat, then dump in 2-3 cans of great northern or any brand pinto beans. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy. Bake a pan of cornbread and you have a most delicious meal.