Pressure Cooking Beans Update

I have been pressuring cooking beans since my first post in March. It has become very easy to do. I found I can pressure cook from totally dry beans for about 20 minutes (after coming to pressure) followed by a natural cool down and have well cooked bean.

I no longer like the taste of canned beans. I still keep some on hand for emergencies, but almost exclusively use dried beans. I love the plainer, less acidic, fresher taste of cooked dried beans. I also found I like pinto beans, which I strongly dislike canned.

This has been an excellent experiment that has been working for me. I can make beans in about an hours time, fully cooked and ready for any recipe. Next I would like to try cooking the recipe in the crock pot. But that will have to come later. This is summer and I doubt I would get the opportunity!

Happy pressure canning!

Pressure Cooking Beans

To cut back on cost and to make them healthier, I have decided that I would only use canned beans for "emergancies." So I decided that I would have to prepare ahead or use the pressure cooker. Tonight was my first experiment with it. The beans cooked up well and took only about 45 from start to finish.

I found a website with great info on how to do it. I followed the directions that came with my pressure cooker, which is always best to go by. But if you don't have them there are some suggestions here:

http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/bean-cooking.html
http://missvickie.com/howto/beans/bean-cooking.html

Here are some tips about cooking with beans:
A pound of dry beans measures about 2 cups.
Beans triple in volume when soaked and cooked.
A cup of dry beans yields 3 cups cooked.
A pound of dry beans yields 6 cups cooked.
Use 3 cups of water per cup of dry beans for soaking.
A pound of dry beans makes about 9 servings of baked beans.
A pound of dry beans makes about 12 servings of bean soup.
A one-pound can of cooked beans measures about 2 cups