If you don’t work with dry beans a lot I have found it pretty easy to do the initial sort by using a spaghetti bowl to pour a few beans into so you can inspect them for quality and any debris like small clumps of dirt or rocks and then i pour them into a 1 quart bowl to measure how many beans I am going to make for the soup.
I will put the first batch of similar beans together that are harder and take more time boiling to soften like Pinto, Northern White, Chickpeas or whatever and then I will make another batch of dry beans that are softer and cook quicker like Lentils, Split Peas that don’t take much time to soften. The first batch will be cooked completely before adding the lentils and other beans that don’t need a lot of time to soften. And Never cook Black Beans with any other bean or they will stain the other beans making them unappealing to eat. Always cook your Black Beans separately and wash them thoroughly before adding them to the rest of your recipe.
Many people like soaking beans overnight but it is not necessary. A quick rapid boil of the beans for about 10 minutes followed by a simmering until they have softened is enough. The harder the bean the longer the initial boiling should be.
It is always best to cook your beans fully before you put them in your soup or other recipe this way you know that the cooking time of the rest of the recipe won’t be effected by beans that still need to be cooked.
To check beans during the cooking process its best to stir them and don’t take beans from the top or bottom of the pot. Pull a couple out with a spoon and then just try eating them. You will know right away if they are done. They will either be very soft with a uniform texture or they will be so hard you can not chew them easily. When they begin to get done the texture will feel grainy like a bunch of little pieces of undone rice. Once they are fully cooked they will be smooth to bite into without any offensive hardness or graininess.
Washing Your Beans
When they are fully done you should rinse your beans to remove the water that they cooked in. Rinsing before cooking will remove all of the dirt that remained from factory processing but I find its just as easy to wait and wash the beans after cooking that way you remove the dirt and the liquid at the same time. If you don’t remove the liquid that they cooked in you are likely to end up suffering from gas.
Adding Salt to Your Beans As They Cook
Most people warn not to add salt to your beans as you cook them in the initial softening stage because the beans will remain hard. I don’t think that adding salt during the initial processing or rehydration stage will make them stay hard but there are other reasons to leave out the salt and just use plain water. Personally I just see adding salt at this point as a waste of salt. Some of the salt will seep into the beans as would other flavorings but if you are going to wash them after the initial cooking you will lose most of your flavoring.
Final Note
Dry beans can actually provide a better experience than canned beans which might sit on your shelf up to a year before using. Dry beans normally dry in the field and then are dehydrated in a factory for final storage. You can collect your own beans if you are willing to allow your plants to dry in the garden long after they mature. This is similar to collecting seed to be used for next years planting but because you allow your plants to dry in the field it does not mean they are ready for storage. If you are someone that is use to dehydrating foods for storage you know that food will go rancid if it is not fully dried to a very low moisture content. However once the beans are dried they do not need to be stored in normal canning jars.
Canning beans can be good if you are processing them fully but dense materials like beans really need to be pressure canned and for safety reasons there are many dense foods that can not or should not be stored in regular canning methods by home processors. I would never suggest that anyone process beans for canning even pinto beans used for baked beans. Its better to have dry beans which you can store in plastic or mylar bags and place those bags into a plastic or glass container to reduce the possibility of air transfer.