If you scroll down the page you'll find a bean thread entitled - cooking with dried beans - with lots of recipes in it. Or click on the link below.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: cooking with dried beans

"It tastes a little like compost."

###SNORT!!!###

Alexa, I think if you don't like beans, you're probably not going to like them no matter how they are prepared.

I'm one of those people who happen to really like beans, peas, lentils. I like them just all by themselves and in dip and hummus, refried in burritos, baked with bacon and molasses, in salsa. I've been known to eat cold baked bean sandwiches for breakfast.

Go figure, I could go the rest of my life without eating ice cream or cheesecake (I don't dislike them, I'm apathetic about them) but I just love baked beans and I want them sticky and sweet.

Annie

Imagine chopping up and mixing 15 types of vegetables (spinach, butternut squash, broccoli, zucchini, brussels sprouts, etc.) together and cooking them in your crock pot. Most likely, they'd taste like compost too. LOL

While I'd say that I really like beans, there are some varieties I don't care for at all, like pinto beans. Why not start out by trying a mild variety like great northern beans, see if you like them, and then try other ones?

Annie took the words out of my mouth. Maybe you just don't like beans. Yesterday I cooked black beans in a way much like you described. Delicious! I'm one of those folks who likes 'em any way you got 'em. But obviously you are not.

Jim

Years ago a group in town would mix and sell a pound of 15 varieties of beans as a fund raiser. Included with the beans was this recipe:

Bean Soup
Wash beans thoroughly and place in a large kettle and cover with water, add 2 TBS salt. Soak overnight. In the morning drain, add 2 quarts of water and ham or ham hocks, bring to a boil. Simmer slowly 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Add:

1 large onion chopped
1 quart can of tomatoes
1 pod red pepper (optional) or 1 tsp chili powder
Juice of one lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer another 30 minutes or so. Serve with crackers and a green salad. ENJOY!

It makes a very good soup! I like to add ground red pepper rather than chili powder which also has cumin and oregano in it.
That slip of paper has been in my recipe file for easily 35 to 40 years....it has stood the test of time....but I seldom serve it with crackers! Usually I serve corn bread or a good loaf of home made French bread.
Linda C

Caliloo,

Do you like beans when they are not the 'main' ingredient? Like in salsa or a pasta dish or chili with beans? Perhaps you just don't like a 'bowl of beans'.

If you are trying to add more beans to your diet, then keep them as a 'sidekick' instead of the main show.

As Ruthanna suggested, maybe a milder variety - how about cannellini beans added to a pasta or soup dish? They are quite mild and not at all 'earthy'.

Or cook some garbanzos and drain and add a mix of vinegar and oiliv oil to co0ver with some....no make that a LOT of garlic and refrigerate for a few days....add a few to a tossed salad.

do you like bean dip? Refritoes? Puree of black bean soup made with chicken broth a jar of sherry and carnished with sour cream?
Split pea soup?
Linda C

Linda I have been making that 15 Bean Soup Recipe for ever. When I have a good ham bone left from eating ham I use the Hurst's 15 Bean Bag along with the bone and leftover ham. The only thing that is different from what you posted is that garlic is added (the recipe is on the back of their bag).

I have cooked this in my crockpot with great success.

Also the first recipe that introduced me to adding fresh squeezed lemon juice into soup and found out how good it tasted and what a difference it can bring to a soup.

I am with the bean lovers and like Annie would take them over cheesecake, ice cream even chocolate.

Maybe your beans were too old. Is that possible? I don't know if dried beans get "old". I've never had beens taste too earthy, as you say; but they can be tough and tasteless without proper cooking and seasoning. You can't miss with a ham hock or bone. Ham bits alone won't add much to the flavor. It could be that you don't like the seasoning you've been adding.
Boy -- we love "legumes" anyway we can get them.
'71

Beans get old....but in my experience it doesn't change the taste....just the cooking time.
I find that black eyed peas have an earthy taste....perhaps that infused all the beans with it's taste?
Next time try cooking in an open pot.....and pick out the black eyed epas!
Linda C

I think all dried beans have a distinctly different flavor, and recipes that work for one kind donÂt necessarily work for another. I love my chili with kidney beans but my lamb stew with garbanzos. I would not try switching them. I tried a multi-bean mix once and didnÂt care for it. It was pretty in the bag but not tasty. More pasty than tasty! I use many kinds of dried beans: frequently a minor constituent, but sometimes major. In soup almost always with tomatoes, onions. Paste Fagiole is good but with two potentially blandish main ingredients seasoning has to be really ramped up and enough more flavorful ingredients in there too.

I have black eyes peas cooking right now, as a meat free Lenten meal they will be added to long grain basmati rice and sour zereshg (like a tiny, very sour dried current or cranberry, found in middle eastern grocery stores) and finished together. Served with a big dollop of plain yogurt on top. The beans taste kind of meaty which goes well with the tart berries and tangy yogurt.

Linda C: Do you think cooking in an open pot makes a difference in flavor? Black eyed peas have a distinctive flavor; but "earthy" would be more like compost and manure-- not like the taste of black eyed peas IMO.

Black eyed peas taste "composty" to me....not that that's bad....compost smells lovely to me....but perhaps not to all.
I am not a fan of crock pot cooking...I think it sort of keeps everything all "mushed" together......and I always cook beans in an open pot....my mother taught me that....so they don't boil over shes aid.....and so you can tell when to skim off the scum ( which I never do!)
No harm in trying something different if the first method didn't work for her....
Linda C

I always cook beans in the pressure cooker in plain water, no salt or anything else, never have scum on the finished product.

I remember scum from making beef, chicken or turkey soup in open pots (I didn't skim scum then, either), but I've been doing those soups in the PC for years, too. No scum there, either, in the finished product. Wonder what happens to it. I guess it just "goes away" like it does if you leave it in an open pot.

Oh. And I don't like Black eyed peas, but I love all the rest of them.

Sherry

I like beans. I"m not sure I could say I love them, categorically.

I'm kinda with Alexa on this one. They're "earthy", maybe even "composty". They're survival food -- a decent amount of protein for a good price. They're starchy and they taste starchy. The good news is, they can absorb the flavors and moisture of things they're cooked with. But it takes more than just some dry seasoning and a bit of garlic to do the job.

Yeah, I like them baked with husky sauce and even bacon. I like them refried -- in lard and topped with a good amount of cheese.

I like them in soups and other dishes where another ingredient is the star and the beans just fill it out.

I wouldn't starve if I didn't have beans. But if one needs to cut some food costs at the market or if one needs to get away from the fats of animal proteins or if one wants to do a better job of saving the earth, add them beans to some part of your eating behavior.

Joe

LOL, I figured compost would taste like, well, like....um....manure. Of course, that's what's in MY compost, along with scraps.

I never thought of beans tasting "earthy", although they are starchy. I like black eyed peas, but truthfully I'm not all that fond of fava beans or the big lima beans. They're too dry and crumbly.

Of course, I also like beets, which many here have stated taste like "dirt". I've tried the 15 bean soup and liked it just as well as I liked any other bean soup, finding the mixture no more nor less "earthy" or "composty" or bland than any single type of bean.

As for seasoning, my latest crockpot full of beans were cranberry beans, much like pinto beans. The only seasoning was onion, carrot, celery, a bay leaf, salt and pepper. No bacon, no ham hock, no smoked turkey, and I liked them well enough to finally finish them off tonight with some maple cornbread.

Hey, Alexa, maybe you could cook them in a fifth of bourbon or something. You'd HAVE to like them that way, LOL. A bean martini, anyone?

Annie

Two points about cooking beans: do not cook the beans with added salt or tomatoes, including tomato products as these can inhibit the softening of the beans during cooking. Add the salt, tomatoes, other vegetables, etc. at the end of the bean cooking time when they are thoroughly cooked.

While I like most beans, I do not like black-eyed peas or dried lima beans. Love garbanzo beans in humus but find them too big and too dry/mealy when left whole. Guess it is a texture thing. Today I am making split pea soup with some country ham bits added.

Annie, would that be a "beanitini?"

Great advice and commentary everyone!

Several people mwntioned that I might just not like beans, but I think the real answer is I like them IN stuff (salad, soup, refried, etc) but I had never thought about not liking them on their own..... I think several people also nailed one of the problems I have too - I HATE Black Eyed Peas and after taking a hard look at the blend, there are indeed Black Eyed Peas in the mix and I think they may have contaminated the entire dish.....

Thankks everyone for the enlightenment! And I will ry some different types and make some of my own mixes that exclude Black Eyed Peas......

Alexa

I guess this just goes to illustrate what linnea56 said about the different beans having distinctly different flavors. We each have beans we like and dislike. I love black-eyed peas, especially with a little bit of smoke flavoring added to them - just a tiny bit. I also add a bit of lemon juice to them at the end of cooking. They're a must every New Years Day, and I like them throughout the year. I've been served a black-eyed pea dip and a black-eyed pea pico de gallo type of salad before, and they were tasty, too, if you want something different made out of black-eyed peas.

I also love red beans, especially red beans and rice, and pinto beans prepared any way, especially with chile seasoning, and black beans, although I went through a phase of eating them so much I got tired of them. I used to make burritos with re-fried black beans. They were a good, easy and quick meal.

The beans I don't like are kidney beans. I don't remember every trying fava beans, and it's been years since I've eaten lima beans. I'll have to try them again. I don't think I cared one way or another about lima beans - they were okay, didn't love them, didn't hate them. For the most part, I love nearly all the different beans.

I'd recommend what others have said, to single out one kind of bean to prepare, and try that out, rather than one of the mixes. You might like it better that way.

Sally

This is a family favorite:

Mom's Black Bean Salad

1 16oz can black beans, drain, rinse, drain again
1 8oz can whole kernel corn, drain
4 oz Monterrey Jack cheese, diced
3/4 cup green onions with tops, chopped
3/4 cup celery, thinly sliced
1 small red or green bell pepper, diced

Mix all the salad ingredients together in a bowl.

Dressing:
3/4 cup mild or medium salsa, chunky variety (low/no sugar brand)
1 TB olive oil
2 TB fresh lemon juice
1 t. ground cumin
1 clove garlic, minced

Mix dressing ingredients well and pour over the salad. Toss well. Garnish with chopped parsley or cilantro if desired.

Works well as a dip with tortilla chip dippers too.

Low in sugar and fat, except for the cheese. High in fiber.

Annie, not bourbon but I sometimes make baked beans with a dark rum and molasses sauce.

I may have mentioned this before but Mollie Katzen's "Vegetable Heaven" is a great source for bean dishes packed with flavor without meat. She also makes provisions for either fresh cooked or canned beans in the recipes.

LOL, Teresa, a beanitini.....

Ruthanna, you just opened up a whole 'nother world. Maybe a white bean salad with pineapple and Malibu rum, or some Kahlua in the baked beans for that sweet coffee flavor.

Heck, at this rate I could make beans a DESSERT!

Annie

I agree with Linnea, all beans do not taste the same and do not have the same applications. I love all beans, but I do not particularly like plain beans, any more than I like plain tofu. Beans have a bland taste IMHO, which is why I love them, they can be spiced up in so many ways. But I don't like to mix and match either. What I make in the crockpot is baked beans (I like mine sweet and sour and spicy), black bean soup--again, spicy with chilis, and curried kidney beans (I just tried that recipe, dark red kidneys with a spicy curry sauce-yum, but then I like curry.)

I use garbanzos and cannelinni beans with pasta and italian, middle eastern and spanish flavors. I would hate either one plain, I eat garbanzos in hummus, highly seasoned salads, or stews. Lentils taste earthy to me too, I do not like some lentil soups, but when I make mine I add tomato sauce, a bit of vinegar at the end, and something bitter like spinach, green pepper or celery. That's greek style. I also do sweet and sour lentils with pineapple and peppers. Or baked spaghetti with lentils, italian seasoned tomato sauce, and a hearty red wine like burgundy, topped with sharp parmesean. That would be yummy, but plain lentils would taste like dirt to me.

I'm not a huge fan of blackeyed peas, although I like them in hoppin' john which I make with tabasco to counter the "earthy" taste. I'm not a huge fan of pintos, they also have an "earthy" taste to me. Particularly plain pintos. Those I can enjoy with a spicy salsa and sharp cheddar topping though. Same with kidney beans, they have an earthy taste which IMHO contrasts nicely with something spicy--so in my mixed veggie and spiced minnestrone or chili, I like them! I also like a tangy three bean salad, but not plain, I like it on lettuce with some other vegetables and croutons or sunflower seeds mixed in. So it seems to me, the key to enjoying beans is to season them well and mix them with sour, spicy, bitter, sharp and tangy flavors. That's part of the idea behind adding epazote to dried beans when cooking.

I eat beans almost every day, but I would also find a bowl of plain beans very hard to palate. On the other hand, a spicy bowl of mixed bean chili with a dollop of lowfat sour cream and a few tortillas crumbled on top is my idea of heavan. Yesterday I had mixed color bowtie pasta, spicy ratatouille with lots of garlic, etc., and garbanzos all topped with parmesean and toasted pine nuts, that was delish. I've had plain garbanzos once, in a spicy curried gravy, that was good too--over brown rice.

I have tunnel vision about beans. I forgot all about fava, lima and garbanzos! I don't like 'em so I never eat them, but I sure do like Red, black and pinto, and split peas

I make more bean soups than any other kind. I either soak them overnight, or do the bringing to a boil trick. I saute onions and carrots, add chicken stock, S&P and that's it. Marvelous!