I don't think you can cook beans to long. I sometimes cook them until they fall apart. But, what do I know.

The Baked Beans I make come in a can. Van Camps and I crumple fried Bacon, chopped onions, add brown sugar and mustard and heat for about 30-40 minutes on low in a cassarole.

What I do Susan,is soak them the nite before I plan to cook them,in hot water,which I change a few times thru the evening.
I always have them salted and peppered for the last watering before bedtime..then,in the morning,that is when I add more water,the pork,and start to cook them..this always worked for me.

Do you have hard water? That can prevent beans from getting soft. They say to add some baking soda to the water. I've also heard that adding salt to the beans before they are soft will prevent them from getting soft.

I've never had much luck with dried beans. I used a canned bean recipe that I found on one of the other forums here and it's great.

My brother-in-law used to think I made the best beans until he found I they were B&M beans that I doctored up. I guess he thought they should be made from scratch. I found his attitude funny. It was a recipe I got from a Farm Journal cookbook and you just added maple syrup to the B&M beans and baked them for hours.

I would just cook the beans ahead of time (Sat?), for as long as needed to be soft (not hard).

I don't think you can cook beans to long.
Not so with navy beans. A relative cooks them with ham, and they are always yucky mush. You can barely see any sign of them being actual beans. She thinks they are great. I dread knowing she is planning to serve them as the main course with cornbread.

I* always used Campbell's until I found BUSH'S, they're great right out of the can, but I always doctor mine a little.

Here is a funny that my Dad always told us.
"If you pick the little pink root from the bean
when eating the beans we wouldn't have any toots after eating them."
He must have had an hilarious time trying
to hold back his laugh when we would pick all the
little pink roots from the beans.
Dolly

I was told that if you put anything with vinegar in bean before they are tender, they will stay hard. I would soak them tonight, cook them tomorrow until just tender, then add whatever you add to them to make them "baked beans". I use ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce, brown sugar, or maple syrup or honey. Bake until "done". (ketchup, mustard & bbq sauce all have vinegar in them!) I did mine in the cpot with all added, and got hard beans, where when I just did them in the cpot with chicken broth, they were tender, just needed doctored to become baked beans.

Tami....lol at Dolly's dad!

we use randall beans from a jar...sis used to make a version of baked beans from them...i'm afraid i'm a bush's fan, too...

I heard not to add salt to beans before their done. I don't and the beans hold their shape without turning to mush.

I forgot to add that I ususally use campbell's beans and doctor them! From scratch is too time consuming to suit me, so DH has to beg for them, before I finally do them from scratch!

Tami

I use Bushs most of the time and add things to it. We have gotten so we just fix them liked baked beans on the stove top.

Sue

I've heard so many good things about Bush's beans, but I don't think we can get them here in Canada. I'll have to pick some up the next time I go to Buffalo.