Dried beans cooking lessons

You grow your beans 
We all know how this is done. If we don’t there’s a whole other thread to discuss it   .

you dry your beans 
I may need to start another thread in legumes department for this . I have questions. 

you store your beans 
Jars, other containers, bags? Airtight? Out of the light? 

You’re about to use them in a recipe. Now what do you do? Rehydrate them ? How ?

The only experience I’ve had with dried beans was a 1kg bag of kidney beans. No matter what I did to them they were still like teeth braking bullets! I tried soaking them before cooking, cold water & hot. I tried different lengths of time. Anything from 1 hour to 24 hours. I tried pre cooking. Change timings and temperatures on this method as well.  Nothing worked. They ruined so many meals.  It kinda put me off dried beans. But thanks to Scarlets bean seeds in the circle and her wonderful photos and descriptions of all the different varieties and what you can do with them, I’m willing to give the dried beans another chance. 
Educate me please    .

I soak them in cold water overnight. Drain the water. I then boil the backside out of them for 20 minutes (I think recommendation is for at least 10) to avoid Lectin poisoning. I then drain that water too. Add new water bring to the boil and simmer for around 45-60 mins depending on the bean.
I don't add anything during this process, I think some seasoning (salt?) can cause them to stay hard.

All I know is that the older the bean, the longer it takes to cook..............if ever! Some seem doomed to stay as tooth breakers for life.

..............and, don't turn your back on them when they're boiling, as, as soon as you do, they froth up and boil over. I think a spot of oil in the cooking water may keep the froth at bay (like in pasta or butter in the jam pan).

Because I am Growing Heinz tomatoes this year it would be good to get a few beans growing, to go with them!

We soak in salted water overnight (about 1 tbsp per 2 L of water), then pressure cook according to the times on this website - https://www.hippressurecooking.com/press...ing-times/

The salt helps keep them plump and stops the skins from bursting. Soaked kidney beans only take about 5 minutes in the pressure cooker then maybe another 10 minutes waiting for it to cool down. Wouldn't be without a pressure cooker now, it's an invaluable tool if you eat a lot of dried legumes.

If the beans are old we add a bit of baking soda to the cooking liquid, it can really help to soften tough beans.

We soak in salted water overnight (about 1 tbsp per 2 L of water), then pressure cook according to the times on this website - https://www.hippressurecooking.com/press...ing-times/

The salt helps keep them plump and stops the skins from bursting. Soaked kidney beans only take about 5 minutes in the pressure cooker then maybe another 10 minutes waiting for it to cool down. Wouldn't be without a pressure cooker now, it's an invaluable tool if you eat a lot of dried legumes.

If the beans are old we add a bit of baking soda to the cooking liquid, it can really help to soften tough beans.

I remember when my Ma used to get dried peas there was a tablet in with them the size of an extra strong mint to put in with them. No idea what it was?

I think Bren still does. Think she gets peas & turns them into mushy peas. The very best kind of peas   .

If I don't have time to soak overnight, I'll bring them to the boil first and then leave them to soak as long as possible before boiling for 15 mins, changing the water and then boiling until soft. The time it takes depends on the age - my pea beans from last year only take about twenty minutes. I don't add salt as I was taught it slowed the softening time as do tomatoes. I have never actually tried cooking them with salt or tomatoes to verify this!

Yep I did some mushy peas on Wednesday using the slow cooker.  I did used to do them in the pressure cooker until they exploded and stuck to the kitchen ceiling

   

Like you SC I'm a relative novice when it comes to dried pulses, homegrown or bought. Only this morning I used some saved dried coco blanc a rames(lazy housewife) beans in a veg dollop. They were this years dried beans kept in a sealed plastic bag, stuffed in an available corner in the cupboard. I soaked them last night in unsalted cold water, boiled them for something like 20 minutes, again unsalted, until they were tender then added them to a tomatoey vegetable base and brought the whole lot to the boil again. Now its sitting on the stovetop cooling before freezing for another day. The other half of the veg base has sausages in for tonight's dinner.
I wasn't going to grow this variety again, but have changed my mind and will, I like the beans. My problem is how much space to dedicate to dried beans.