Monday, February 01, 2010

Sprouted Black Beans

I tried a recipe for sprouted black beans today. It turned out well; I'd like to experiment with them some more since they were actually edible. Sprouting is supposed to increase the nutritional value of the bean.

Here's the recipe (it is for sprouting and then canning):

Put 1 cup dry beans in each of 7 quart jars. Fill with water and let set overnight. In the morning, drain the water out of the bottles, rinse the beans with clean water and drain well. Cover with a towel. Repeat this process (rinsing) in the evening. The following morning, after rinsing well, fill each bottle with water to the neck and add 1 tsp salt. Adjust lids. Pressure cook at 15 lbs for 1 hour. Note: the 1 cup of beans in each bottle never leaves the bottle during the process. They swell and sprout to fill the bottle.

My beans were a bulk bag I bought about 6 months ago. I sprouted the beans and then boiled them on the stove with onion and garlic to season them. (Didn't can them.) I cooked them for 3 hours, but they were probably done sooner if I had checked on them. Supposedly they aren't supposed to cause as much gas, but they still did. So next time I might try draining the water once after heating them up on the stove.