2 Answers

Did you get "Govnent Beans? A friend of mine received  government beans(food stamp beans) and this very same thing happened. He soaked the beans over night and continued to boil them several hours past the cook time, and the beans were still like leather! He ended up chunking them in the trash.!

To shorten cooking time and make them easier to digest, pinto beans should be presoaked (presoaking has been found to reduce the raffinose-type oligosaccharides, sugars associated with causing flatulence.) There are two basic methods for presoaking. For each, start by placing the beans in a saucepan with two to three cups of water per cup of beans.

The first method is to boil the beans for two minutes, take the pan off the heat, cover and allow to stand for two hours. The second method is to simply soak the beans in water for eight hours or overnight, placing the pan in the refrigerator so beans will not ferment. Before cooking, regardless of method, drain the soaking liquid and rinse the beans with clean water.

To cook the beans, you can either cook them on the stovetop or use a pressure cooker. For the stovetop method, add three cups of fresh water or broth for each cup of dried beans. The liquid should be about one to two inches above the top of the beans. Bring the beans to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, partially covering the pot. If any foam develops, simply skim it off during the simmering process. Pinto beans generally take about one to one and one-half hours to become tender using this method.

They can also be cooked in a pressure cooker where they take about one-half hour to prepare. Regardless of cooking method, do not add any seasonings that are salty or acidic until after beans have been cooked; adding them earlier will make the beans tough and greatly increase the cooking time.