Turns out I was ruining my beans by adding salt too early

I've been making black beans from dry for years, dumping salt in at the start like my grandma taught me. Last week I made a batch for a potluck and a friend who cooks professionally pointed out they were tough and never got creamy. Anyone else find out they were screwing up a basic cheap staple the whole time?

3 comments

3 Comments

dakota41515d ago

Man I spent like six years making the toughest pintos on the planet and just thought that was how beans were supposed to be. My abuela would add all the salt and a ham bone right at the start and her beans came out perfect every time so I thought I was just cursed or something. Turns out she was using a pressure cooker and I was just boiling them in salt water for hours like an absolute fool. The day I tried salting at the end it was like a whole new world opened up and my beans actually got soft and creamy. I could have saved myself so many sad mushy burritos if someone had told me this years ago. Now I just pretend I always knew and act all smug when I see people dumping salt in at the beginning.

jennifer83315d ago

Brother it's beans. Not that deep. Salt at the start or salt at the end, either way they're edible. I've done both and couldn't tell you which is which half the time. Maybe your abuela's pressure cooker was doing all the real work.

seth_singh2015d ago

Think about the water chemistry too. Hard water has calcium and magnesium that mess with bean softening just like salt does. I switched to using distilled water for my beans when I'm in an area with hard tap water and it made a bigger difference than salt timing ever did. Soft water lets the beans break down better. Check your water before you blame the salt.