Beans

[10-K]

I got the bright idea to buy some dried beans (black eyed peas actually) with the idea that if I soaked them for 10-12 hours they'd be soft enough to cook quickly. My plan was to put a cup of them in a water bottle in the morning, let them slosh around all day, and cook them at night.

Long story short, that's not going to work... even 16 hours later the peas were no where close to being ready to cook quickly. In fact, they were still pretty hard.

So... is it even possible to prepare a dried legume as a backpacking food?

Could you cook them, then dehydrate them or something?

As you can see, I'm not very cooking savvy...

[Rocket Jones]

Soak. Cook. Dehydrate.

When you cook, don't add salt until the very end, it makes them tough.

[scope]

I never have luck with those things at home... soaking, cooking a long time, still hard, crunchy. In fact, I avoid the backpack meals with beans in them because the same thing seems to happen most of the time.

[mweinstone]

black eyed peas, witch i just made tonight ,..yes,...are very fast cookers. without soaking even. it only takes 20 min. but heres a trick i learned from veitnameese friends and resturants like pho ha,,soup house. broken rice is the way people make regular rice into fast cooking rice without parboiling. they crush the rice so the smaller peices cook faster. now crush your peas in a morter and pestal and soak them by day in a ziplock and just enough water so you have to add more every few hours during the hike, then cook them. bring to a boil and simmer on low about 10 min. steam them out for a min or two with the cover on and enjoy. i can do it with 2 ozs of alcohal in my trangia and a ti pot . they are tender and great. salt helps them cook faster.

[rdljr]

Lentils, work with out cooking if you start soaking then before bed they will be crunchy little "bean sprouts in time for dinner the next night.
Rdl

[fiddlehead]

I like black beans so, used to cook them up a bit "adante" and quite spicy.
Then i would dehydrate them by spreading the past-like beans on plastic wrap in my dehydrator.
They would hydrate up well (I never dehydrate things too dry) and make great bean burritos.
A little cheese and tobasco on top makes them envious.

[10-K]

I like black beans so, used to cook them up a bit "adante" and quite spicy.
Then i would dehydrate them by spreading the past-like beans on plastic wrap in my dehydrator.
They would hydrate up well (I never dehydrate things too dry) and make great bean burritos.
A little cheese and tobasco on top makes them envious.


I got a bag of black beans too.. :)

I think I'll try cooking both the peas and the beans and then drying them in the oven since I don't have a proper dehydrator.

The good thing about beans is they're cheap.....

[The Cleaner]

I used to do this in my early backpacking days in the 80's.Here's how it works.Put dry beans/BE peas in 1 liter canteen add HOT water before leaving camp and let soak all day in pack.Upon arrival at camp beans will be ready to cook but still they will take almost an hour to cook .This takes a good stove or I would cook them on a campfire.We made "Red Beans/Rice by adding tomatoe paste which had been microwaved into a roll-up leather.Make some rice and pan fried corn cakes.Chop up an onion and you're ready to chow down....other campers were asking what smelled so good as they ate their Mountian House meals...:eek:

[The Cleaner]

How to dry cooked beans.Rinse off cooked/canned and spread them on cookie sheet which has been sprayed w/Pam or wiped w/oil.Put on middle rack of oven.Set temp to 125 and prop open oven door w/wooden spoon.Takes 6-8 hrs and beans will be dry&crunchy.Can be rehydrated w/little water and not much cook time.Check out this book"Hungry Hiker's Book of Camp Cooking" if you can find it.I still have mine and it has many ideas which still work well on the trail.:sun

[fiddlehead]

I got a bag of black beans too.. :)

I think I'll try cooking both the peas and the beans and then drying them in the oven since I don't have a proper dehydrator.

The good thing about beans is they're cheap.....

If you can put them in the oven at its very lowest temp (150?) and leave the top of the oven door open, that would be best i believe.
Even though i have a good dehydrator, THAT, is how i dry hamburger. (after patting it dry about 4 times)

[Farr Away]

A couple of options to get them to rehydrate quickly-

1. Mash them before dehydrating. (Think refried beans.) Dry the paste. You can powder this after it's dry.

2. Crunch them into flakes after dehydrating.

[gunner76]

Harmony House http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/Dehydrated-Beans_c_2.html sell dehydrated beans.

[Cookerhiker]

How to dry cooked beans.Rinse off cooked/canned and spread them on cookie sheet which has been sprayed w/Pam or wiped w/oil.Put on middle rack of oven.Set temp to 125 and prop open oven door w/wooden spoon.Takes 6-8 hrs and beans will be dry&crunchy.Can be rehydrated w/little water and not much cook time.Check out this book"Hungry Hiker's Book of Camp Cooking" if you can find it.I still have mine and it has many ideas which still work well on the trail.:sun

Since I don't have a dehydrator, this sounds very promising. Thanks for posting.

[Snowleopard]

Lentils, especially red lentils cook fast. Presoak or better yet, cook then dehydrate.
Indian groceries sell various kinds of dal that are split beans (i.e., like split peas) that cook faster than the whole bean.
Small Indian pressure cookers are also an option, but are somewhat heavy; search for 1.5L Hawkins aluminum pressure cooker. This is what I use at home all the time.

The dehydrated beans available online and occasionally at health food stores aren't bad; I've used the black beans and liked them.

[10-K]

Lots of great info... I think I'm going to try the Harmony House dehydrated beans and fool around with The Cleaner's recipe a bit.

On the plus side, I did soak and cook the rest of my black eyed peas tonight. Threw some salt pork in the pot and made some cornbread. Pretty good!

[Rocket Jones]

Ham and Beans
Right off, I need to mention that in our family, this has always been called "Ham and Beans", no matter what kind of meat is used. You can use cubed ham, or better yet a ham bone with some meat left on it. Sometimes I use a nice chunk of salt pork or fatback, and even thick-sliced bacon will do nicely.
Now, for the beans, you can use whatever kind you like best. For me, I prefer navy beans, though great northern beans are almost as good and in a pinch I'll use pinto beans.
Pour the dry beans into a big bowl and cover them with lots of fresh water. You can put 'em in a strainer and run cold water over them if you want before you soak them. So, big bowl, plenty of water covering beans. Leave it alone overnight.
Next morning, drain the beans and then take a few minutes to pick through them and make sure there's no little pebbles or pieces of bean stems mixed in. It doens't happen often, but nothing sucks worse than chomping down on a rock.
Toss the beans into a big pot and cover with cold water again. Don't put the heat on yet, because you want all the various flavors to blend in, and that works best when everything heats together.
Chop a half onion into small pieces and throw it into the pot. Like onion? Use more or less to suit. If you want, a stalk or two of celery and/or a carrot can be chopped and tossed in with the beans. Add the meat. If it's a ham bone the meat will shred off as it cooks, anything else you can cut into bite-size pieces.
Once it's all in there, turn on the heat.
I like to add a bay leaf and a fresh sprig of thyme (be sure to fish 'em out before eating). I also add a generous amount of fresh-ground black pepper, it's hard to use too much pepper for this. Might as well throw in a couple shakes of red pepper for heat if you want. A small splash of liquid smoke has been known to make it into the pot once in a while.
Bring it to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat and simmer for hours, stirring occasionally. The longer the better. After four to six hours the beans are done enough to eat, but I like to let it go at least eight. You can remove the cover for a while or use a little cornstarch disolved in water to thicken it up if you want. Salt goes in last, when almost done.

A good cornbread is to mix a chopped green chilie (or a small can of) into the batter for a little zip.

I automatically put aside a big bowlfull for the freezer. It keeps well and makes for a nice treat on a rainy day or the perfect lunch if you're attending the opera that evening.

[Odd Man Out]

Lentils don't need to be pre soaked or pre cooked. I just buy the dry at the store. At camp add one scoop rice, one scoop lentils, and 4 to 6 scoops of water (depending on how you like your dahl bat - experiment with the proportions). Add some veggies or meat if you have it. Add curry for flavor. This can take a lot of salt too. Add oil if you want more calories/energy. Put it on you alcohol stove with enough fuel to boil, and a few minutes more. When the flame goes out, wrap your pot in a dish towel or pot cozy and let set for 20 minutes (don't peek). Then eat.

[Tinker]

I like black beans so, used to cook them up a bit "adante" and quite spicy.
Then i would dehydrate them by spreading the past-like beans on plastic wrap in my dehydrator.
They would hydrate up well (I never dehydrate things too dry) and make great bean burritos.
A little cheese and tobasco on top makes them envious.

I think you mean "al dente" (literally "to the teeth").

Adante is something entirely different: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/andante

[Black Wolf]

Boil 'em in the morning...half oz. of fuel...soak 'em all day..cook 'em at night...if that doesn't work..boil 'em at night and let 'em soak 24 hour's...if you soak 'em 24 hours...drain off the water before you cook 'em.... you did ask how to cook dried beans right...not alternatives

use the flavor pack from a package of Ramen noodles to cook the beans...cook the noodles..safe the water for hot chocolate ...and eat the beans and noodles...

[mweinstone]

black eyed peas are the fastest cooking bean. they are quicker even than a red lentle. but both lentles and black eyed peas need not be soaked or pre cooked or dehydrated if you dont want. they just dont take as long as folks think. the fact is, every single bean for sale in this world can be enjoyed on the trail without any cooking. they all can be sprouted. alfalfa and mung are the fastest. but any whole bean works wonderfully and even a mix of lots of beans will sprout. for those of us that feel the stare of eyes and feild the questions of what are we cooking that smells so good and why is your food takeing so long,..we know the answers are , real food, and, its not, its just that your food was designed to be cooked and eaten really really fast and in doing so is neither real or real good. would you like some? i ask....and in the next town their in the real food section!we gotta get our hikers off hiker food and on real food. it aint hard.

[Black Wolf]

black eyed peas are the fastest cooking bean. they are quicker even than a red lentle. but both lentles and black eyed peas need not be soaked or pre cooked or dehydrated if you dont want. they just dont take as long as folks think. the fact is, every single bean for sale in this world can be enjoyed on the trail without any cooking. they all can be sprouted. alfalfa and mung are the fastest. but any whole bean works wonderfully and even a mix of lots of beans will sprout. for those of us that feel the stare of eyes and feild the questions of what are we cooking that smells so good and why is your food takeing so long,..we know the answers are , real food, and, its not, its just that your food was designed to be cooked and eaten really really fast and in doing so is neither real or real good. would you like some? i ask....and in the next town their in the real food section!we gotta get our hikers off hiker food and on real food. it aint hard.

True that...my brother...sprouting on the trail...now that's an idea...

[juma]

I cook them and dehydrate all the time. pintos with some dried cheese and taco sauce paks is super.



I got the bright idea to buy some dried beans (black eyed peas actually) with the idea that if I soaked them for 10-12 hours they'd be soft enough to cook quickly. My plan was to put a cup of them in a water bottle in the morning, let them slosh around all day, and cook them at night.

Long story short, that's not going to work... even 16 hours later the peas were no where close to being ready to cook quickly. In fact, they were still pretty hard.

So... is it even possible to prepare a dried legume as a backpacking food?

Could you cook them, then dehydrate them or something?

As you can see, I'm not very cooking savvy...

[NBHiker]

Try chick peas. They are one legume that can be eaten after being soaked. Not as soft as when cooked, but definitely edible. Makes a great snack.

[mweinstone]

interesting chart i found once, showed the optimum moisture levels in all beans and legumes and their shelflife. it said garbonzo beans have 6% moisture and keep indefinatly.

[hikingshoes]

Lots of great info... I think I'm going to try the Harmony House dehydrated beans and fool around with The Cleaner's recipe a bit.

On the plus side, I did soak and cook the rest of my black eyed peas tonight. Threw some salt pork in the pot and made some cornbread. Pretty good!
No sweet tea!!HS

[sarbar]

You can cook up and dry at home - in a dehydrator or in your oven. You can also do this with canned beans, just drain/rinse and dry. Harmony House Foods are excellent to use - they are precooked and dried for you.
Lentils are particualrly nice for this - being precooked and small you can soak them in cool water and 30 minutes later have a nice "salad" on trail.