Beans Won't Soften!

[Anonymous]

I bought a pack of Navy Beans. Soaked them in water overnight. The next morning, I rinsed the beans, placed in a crock pot with a can of chicken broth, a diced onion, salt, and fresh garlic paste. I set the slow cooker on low.

That evening, I came home - and the beans were still hard!

So I set the slow cooker on high, made a different meal, went to sleep.

This morning, checked them again - softer, but still hard. Not like in the can.

I have made Kidney Beans this way, and black beans, with no issue.

Am I doing something wrong?

Do I need to let it go, will they not get any softer? I hate to throw all of them out. :/

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately I don't think there's anything you can do now to save them. Maybe you got an old batch at the store.

[Anonymous]

Weird. That has never happened before.
I was wondering if the type of bean had anything to do with it. Ah, well.

[Anonymous]

I can never do beans in a crock pot either. It just doesn't get hot enough.

I have to soak them in boiling water on the stove.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought a pack of Navy Beans. Soaked them in water overnight. The next morning, I rinsed the beans, placed in a crock pot with a can of chicken broth

This exactly what i was going to recommend when I saw the title. I do my navies this way and it's fine.

[Anonymous]

I've read that adding salt to beans during cooking prevents them from softening.

[Anonymous]

I've had that happen once. I just figured I got a bad/old bag, and threw it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've read that adding salt to beans during cooking prevents them from softening.

Yep, no salt! So I guess that includes broth?

[Anonymous]

Salt helps softening but sugar does opposite.

[Anonymous]

I soak overnight. Then pressure cook with a pinch of baking soda. Always perfectly soft.

[Anonymous]

If the water is too cold, the beans wont soften. At the same time, if the water is too hot, your beans to rot/ferment.

[Anonymous]

Salt (yes, like in broth) will prevent them from softening, and old beans won't soften. You can try boiling and see, they might just need that extra heat.

[Anonymous]

That's so weird, OP. I could dried beans (different varieties) about once a week uses the exact same system you did. I can only guess it's what other PPs said, a case of one bad batch off old beans.

[Anonymous]

Probably old beans, and if they weren't soft when you started to cook them, they probably can't be saved. Sorry!

[Anonymous]

Try putting in a small amount (1/2 tsp maybe?) of baking soda. This changes the texture a bit, makes them more tender.