Can you say "compost" ????

Are you sure you are not simmering aquarium gravel? Or pebbles of kryptonite?

Well, mind the dental work when you bite down. Crowns are expensive.

I'm not one to give up in most cases. I have tenacity. In this case I would give it up. Not much lost anyway.

The more important question is - did you find the chocolate chips?

You don't have much more to lose by cooking them a little longer, but I'd give up when it's bedtime. Have you tasted them? Do they taste OLD? If so, I'd quit now. Sometimes beans just don't cook well.

Lee

Save them. I'm sure someone could use them for artwork.

Like your grandkids.

Oh yeah I found the chips....and ate a handful!!
I'm stubborn....and they smell good...And taste fine...even if a little...uh....chewy.
They don't 'clank" when you stir them like pebbles....but more of a noise like stirring wooden beads...
I have always thought that old beans would eventually cook up...I'll shut the burner off before bed.....and re assess in the morning.
Wonder if the birds and squirrels like boiled hard beans?? t

I used to think they would last forever, at least that's what DH thought but they take longer and longer each year. Now I buy them to last no longer than one season, making sure I buy the freshest available. Now I learn I could have saved the old beans for pie crust baking weights. I like to be able to cook up a pot of beans in about two hours or less so I don't have to plan so far in advance. I found a cannister of last year's (that were not that fresh when I bought them) beans this weekend and they cooked up in 2 hours after soaking them all night. And they were dark and firmer than what I like. I filled 4 two cup containers, labeled them and stashed them in the freezer for those days DH asks for beans on short notice. I'm saving the rest for pie weights. My storage jars are empty awaiting the 2010 crop, YAAY!

I try to keep my dried beans in the freezer. I say 'try' because sometimes they have to come out to make room for something that must be frozen. Fresh dried beans stay nice & fresh in the freezer.

We love pintos; the problem is finding fresh pintos now that I live in WI. Years ago, a friend of my dad's would keep us supplied w/ beans fresh out of the fields in Kansas. A fresh pinto is so superior to the old brown things that the grocery stores peddle.

I've just recently discovered that the pressure cooker is a great way to cook dried beans. Often, I don't think ahead enough to soak the beans so the pressure cooker comes to the rescue. Anyway, with those hard beans, I'd try finishing them off in the PC. Prolly about 5 minutes?

Uncle!!!
I just turned the pot off....they are still inedible..sort of crumbly.
I'll deal with that black sludge tomorrow!!
I always thought that if you cooked old beans long enough they would eventually soften...
These black beans must have been from the stone ages.....and now I wish I had just saved them for pie weights...or bean bags....

All dry beans are pie weights at my house. :)

LindaC, the same thing happened to me last night with brown rice. I was baking it using Alton Brown's method and after two hours - and the rice still crunchy - I threw it all in the trash!

Now I am afraid I will clog my disposer with the stuff...
Maybe I'll take it outside and smear it into the cracks on the driveway. It they won't break down with hours and hours of boiling, they ought to take a little rain and snow.

Give up, Linda. My best friend had the same driven spirit once many years a ago. She cooked them off and on, low and high...she was finally broken after three days. All I can say is, at least they are cheap, it's not like you are throwing away a tough piece of meat.

I also thought of a pressure cooker, but after my accident last February, I would NEVER recommend anyone using one!

I admire your tenacity though ;)

I ran into the 'cement bean' problem several years back with a pot of baked beans. I don't recall how long they cooked, seemed like forever, and they DID rattle when spooned onto the plate.
kay

Definitely time to give up, LindaC. Here they'd become chicken food but I suppose driveway asphalt is the next best thing, LOL.

Annie

I dunno the science behind it, but some beans just never get soft. I know if you add acid (as in vinegar to black bean soup) the beans will never soften as you have turned the bean skin into some type of impermeable shield. Ask me how I know, lol! Maybe that's what happened to your beans, even without the acid. I too had a similar experience with brown rice this year. I think something happens to "fossilize" the skins on these seeds. Maybe next time grind before cooking, I dunno . . . I just know that they simply don't soften.

The skins split.....but the bean never cooked....
I have an empty coffee can I will dump it in and send out with the trash!
300 years from now someone looking in the landfill for artifacts from this century will find a can of fossilized beans...

I have never had beans that tough. I have cooked beans left from Y2K. (You don't know what's Y2K?)

I soak beans in very hot water to prevent them from being viable and germinate. The soaked beans stay in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. They all puff up to twice the volumn.

Then I cook them in the pressure cooker for about 15 minutes.

You must use very low fire to build up the pressure and keep the pressure. Some beans have a tendence to bubble and clog the pressure vent. Also you can't have a big pot of beans for the same reason.

dcarch

Annie, I wouldn't give it to the chickens.. Years ago I made up a batch of something or other for use in building a biblical village for my Sunday School Class. Threw out the overage ... Chicken got into it ... the stuff hardened in their craws and we had a lot of dead chickens.
kay

I would never put beans in the garbage disposal - anything solid goes into trash or compost. They could clog up your sewer.

For beans that will not get done in a normal amount of time, try adding 1/4 tsp of baking soda. I haven't had any beans that did not get completely soft after adding that. If I want garbanzos to cook quickly, I add baking soda at the beginning.

Lars

I have had beans that tough more than once! That's why I suggested that Linda give it up. It's just wasting electricity to continue trying when the bean is old. I've bought pintos off the grocery shelf that were like that. I hate to buy dry pintos anymore for fear of getting more of them.

I had the exact same problem with black beans once, and my neighbor, who put some on to cook a couple days after I did thad that problem too. Other times my black beans were fine. Don't know what the problem is, but I cooked for hours and hours and they never got cooked. Give it up.