Daily Kitchen Note
Older or hard-to-cook beans can stay firm after a long simmer. A measured salt-and-baking-soda brine helps those beans hydrate and soften more evenly before they cook in fresh water.
How to Brine hard-to-cook beans with salt and baking soda
- Pick over and rinse 1 pound (455 grams) dried beans.
- Dissolve 36 grams Diamond Crystal kosher salt and 10 grams baking soda in 2 liters of water; if using another salt, measure by weight rather than assuming the same volume.
- Soak the beans in the brine overnight, up to 24 hours.
- Drain and rinse the beans, then cook them in plain fresh water until tender.
Why it works
Sodium from salt and baking soda displaces calcium and magnesium bound to bean pectin, making that pectin more soluble so hard-to-cook beans soften more readily.
Source
Serious Eats: Brining Beans With Baking Soda: An Investigation
