For ham/bean soup I love Great Northerns. I don't like kidney beans, so I use black beans or small red chili beans in chili. Lentils cook quickly and don't require soaking, which makes them a good choice to add protein to vegetable soups, and I also like them in chicken soup.

I guess I don't have a favorite--just a least favorite. ;)

Pinto beans would be good with ham hocks.

Mamagoose I wa just introduced in the last few years to red lentils, masoor dal, and I like them as well as the plain brown lentil my grandmother used.

I like Lima beans, garbanzos, and fava beans, in that order, but I pretty much like all dried beans and cook them often. They all cook quickly in my pressure cooker.

Actually, I prefer fresh fava beans to dried ones, and that is what I use to make falafel. I frequently cook pinto, red beans, and lentils. I'm less fond of black beans because they often seem to be tough. I do have a recipe for Cuban black beans that I like, but otherwise I don't cook them. I use red beans and navy beans when I make minestrone.

Most favorite is navy beans with lots of ham bits and a bit of chopped celery and carrot. Add a short shot of Worchestershire and a dash of Colton's Liquid Smoke. Second has to be pintos with ground beef, celery, chopped garlic, more yellow onion than should ever be allowed in a single pot of anything, two or three chopped jalapenos and a palmful of whatever spices suit my fancy on any given day.

I love those 15 bean bags. Our top favorite is Anasazi beans and then Cranberry beans. Real red beans for red beans and sausage and rice. I don't like the big red kidney beans some places use as red beans.

While I like navy beans with ham my go to for most other things is the pinto bean. Although I do not buy them in the original form dry or wet I eat a lot of original style hummus.

A lot of what I purchase will depend on if I need a bean to hold its shape or to become very soft.

Hands down, flageolet beans. I soak overnight in the refrigerator and they are so creamy, easy to digest. I haven't used great northerns in a soup or dish since first trying the flageolet.

ETA: Should have added, I do like pinto or red if I'm making chili.

Depends on the dish.

I eat buttered pinto beans with diced jalapeno as a side dish.

Red bean soup (Cuban) is my favorite fall bean dish.

Refried black beans with Mexican dishes.

Lima beans and great northerns in soups.

I like them all depending on what I am making. I never use canned ones.

Pinquito beans grown here on the beautiful central coast of California.

With ham hocks my favorite is blackeyed peas.

Great Northern. I don't like kidney or lima. I sometimes used canned; what a great shortcut. I've never heard of pinquito, Roy4me.

I like baby limas the best, then great northern.

Cooper made me think of Purple Hull peas-kind of similar to blackeyed peas but a different flavor. Normally fresh rather than dried. We always had them home canned or frozen. I used to be able to get them frozen here in the PNW but not for years. They are long season-cant grow them here. wonderful flavor.

Around here there is a bean called a Tarheel bean that will grow here as what they call a shelly bean. It would be rare to get a dry bean but the shelly beans were canned. A big speckled bean. Good flavor.

Ha-ha! roy4me I looked to see how to explain pinquito beans to those who haven't heard of them and this popped up. Fitting I think. LOL

https://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-fo-pinquito-beans-recipe-history-20170616-story.html

A couple of years ago I discovered mayocoba beans, also knows as frijoles canarios or frijoles peruanos. They are my absolute favorite.

I like cranberry beans, great northern, and butter beans! I don't care for dried kidney beans or dried black beans cooked.

Sue

Marilyn_Sue, how are cranberry beans different from pintos? They look so similar.

Navy beans, flavored with bacon grease. Served with a piece of steaming-hot, traditional Southern cornbread (meaning: no sugar. At all).

I don't think there's a dry bean that I don't like. We ate Pintos, Great Northern and Lima beans growing up, thank heavens for them or we would have been in a world of hurt at times. I've learned to like many other kinds of beans due to the varied ethnic cultures around here, Cuban, Mexican, Cajun, Indian, you name it. And of course the Southern black-eyed peas and their cousins are very common. I like them all. I would like to try those mayocoba beans, though. I've seen them in the
store here lately but I've never tasted them. Are they similar to any
other bean?

I don't know the difference between pinto and cranberry beans. Growing up my Mother grew Horticulture beans and hulled them and just froze them. They now call them cranberry beans. Maybe one is larger, I don't know, maybe they taste the same or maybe different. Does anyone know? I may have to fix myself some beans for the weekend.

Sue

I see them in my fruit market in the bulk bins and wondered about them. I have almost mistaken the cranberry for pintos but they are more red.

It seems from what I read they are similar but milder and more smooth than pintos. More of an heirloom bean.

.

Lentils. I love lentils. Lentil stew is one of my go-to comfort foods.

Favorites here are pinto beans, small Navy beans, and black-eyed peas. We do like lentils, but seldom cook them; same with Great Northern white beans.

Although I no longer purchase from them Baker Creek at rareseeds.com used to have several different types of heirloom seeds.

I will admit, I have never tasted lentils. Since so many like them I will have to make an effort to try them.

I don't think Cranberry beans taste like pinto beans at all. They are very smooth and mild, Creamy and much less gas. Same with Anasazi beans.

My favorites are black eye peas.

ritaweeda, I'd be hard pressed to describe the taste of mayocoba beans--or any bean for that matter. They're not wildly different from others, I don't think, but somehow tastier to me. But if you like beans, you'll love mayocoba. I have to order mine from Amazon because Kroger doesn't carry them here (though they did briefly and that's how I discovered them).

Definitely Orson Bean....he could be pretty dry...

;)

I have heard it often said that dried, cooked beans have no flavor. To my tastebuds and all of my family's that is not true. We definitely know the differences in the tastes of any of the dried beans, as well as the different textures of the beans.

After I posted my favorite dried beans, I wanted to pull up on old recipe I had for 4-Ingredient Bean Soup, it was made with Navy beans. However, it must have been lost in the ransomeware attack that occurred on my computer. I don’t even recall where the recipe was from. I have Googled it and the only one that came up was for black beans. Do any of you happen to have such a recipe for Navy beans. That was the very best Navy bean soup and we all loved it.

WalnutCreek, this one is made in a crockpot. Does it sound right?

That sounds very similar; it did not have brown sugar in it. Thank you so much, Kathy. I have copied this to keep in a Word document and can use it to play around with. I did make it in a crockpot and had forgotten that part of it.

Brown sugar did sound so strange. Might give it more of a baked beans taste.

I agree. Would you mind sharing where you even found the recipe. I Googled I don't know how many times and all I found was a black bean recipe with 4 ingredients.

And, we do like baked beans, but when we want soup, don't want a sweet soup.