Food I Have A Question About Storing Dry Beans And Lentils

I will take them out of the bag and vacuum seal them but is it a good idea to wash and dry them first?

I have not...

jeff B.

I wouldn't add any moisture to something which was to become long-term storage; you can always rinse and soak them when you open them up after a few years - estimates were generally in the 5-7 year range before they wouldn't cook properly. Moisture just isn't your friend re: long-term storage, and the beans are already dehydrated.

I've been told that beans in particular are hard to cook up after a few years. We tried cooking up some pinto beans which we'd vacuum-packed in mylar back in 2011 and discovered that was true. I think we cooked those beans for over a day and they never softened up! Although they were edible ....

So we tried a suggestion from our group - using a pressure cooker. This worked great! The electric one - Instant Pot Duo Plus 60 - has a 45-minute pressure soak cycle or something, after which it cooked the beans up real nicely in less than a couple hours, IIRC. (It's been a while)

The other suggestions which seemed meritorious were to either grind the uncooked beans into powder and add that to dishes as a thickener, and I'm told that the powder can also be used as flour also. I suppose that could become like refried beans as well. We've not tried this personally yet but we probably should soon.

Rabbit said:

I will take them out of the bag and vacuum seal them but is it a good idea to wash and dry them first?

Click to expand...

if you're going to do anything other than IMMEDIATELY seal them up, put them in the freezer for 72 hrs to kill any weevil eggs which how ever unlikely - MIGHT - be in the bag. then spread them out on a towel on the table and let them air - prefferably with a big fan blowing over them to assist in drying any condensation from the freezer - then seal them up

Thank you!

Here's an article on storing and using beans, including ones that won't soften up. Freezing, grinding into flour, canning, and pressure cooking are all options that are good to learn about now.

Basic Food Storage--Beans

shouldn't be doing much of anything this time of year unless you're in conditioned air situation - food to be stored should be in the conditioned situation for a few days prior to the work >>> definitely don't be adding any moisture - not even a humidity stored bucket ....

not the worst idea to add a desiccant pack to the bottom of the bucket for added insurance ...

However, if you really want to wash your beans you can do so and then dehydrate them. They will cook faster that way and after dehydrating then vacuum seal and they will last for the long haul.

God is good all the time.

Judy

Just no.