worlds of possiblility

I know how they do it.

Yes.

I KNOW.

For all of you who have tried and failed to take dried black beans and cook them up into what you'd hoped would be a tasty equivalent to canned but then realized you'd failed beyond the extent of comprehension...I feel your pain.

Yes. Pain. Black beans are hard to make just like they come in a can. One might say painful. Or impossible. First, they taste bland. Second, their skins split. And they take forever. You have to soak them for at least 8 hours and then boil them for 2. So how does S&W do it?

Probably just how I did it. They use FRESH black beans. My Salvadoran friends gave me a bag of freshly picked black beans a few days ago. She said not to soak them. Just cook for 30 minutes in boiling water with salt and garlic.

I looked at the beans in the bag. I tried to squash one. They felt hard as rock. I should have stomped on it to check, but I missed my opportunity. After questioning her, I discovered that beans come out of the pod looking the exact same way we buy them in the bulk bins. Except the older they get, the drier and harder they get. Wow.

So I just made perfect beans. Yay for me.