Red Kidney Beans Split During Soak

Ugly, wrinkled and split beans

I put them in a pot with water (with about 2 tsp of baking soda) to soak overnight and only after a couple hours I found many of them with wrinkled, skins peeling off and split in half. I am going to have to toss them out as they were to be used in a salad and I want them to look appealing!

The packaging said they would be good for several more months past this date. I opened another package that has a shorter expiration date and shortly after adding water (plus a couple tsp. of baking soda) I am noticing some of the beans are beginning to repeat the same thing.

Am I doing something wrong? I am about to throw in the towel and go out and buy them in a can!

Thank you!
Linda
California

*****
Sassy Sez: Oh Linda, my darling, look at your poor little split kidney beans. :(

My first thought would be that your beans are too old. But you seem to be using fairly fresh beans, especially if you have purchased them in a package with a use-by date.

So the other thought? It's the baking soda. But this, I have discovered, is a topic that is causing some confusion out there: Should you add baking soda to the water when soaking your beans?

Personally, I have never used this method. Some people swear it makes the beans softer and more digestible. Others say it can make your beans soft and mushy and mealy, AND can remove important nutrients from your beans.

So which is correct?

THAT is the million dollar question. My personal guess would be that it depends on the bean.

Someone might cook a batch of beans at home that are particularly old, so adding the baking soda to the soaking water works beautifully to soften them.

Others might cook a batch of beans that are very fresh, so adding the baking soda to the soaking water could ruin those (relatively) more tender skins.

My advice would be to try soaking your beans without the baking soda to see if that solves the problem.

If you are worried about the digestibility of your beans after they are cooked, add a 1-2" strip of kombu (seaweed) to the cooking water. This also adds some important nutrients to the beans and bean cooking water.

Let's open this up to discussion. What say you Vegan Coach peeps out there? Do you successfully soak your beans with baking soda? Have you experienced beans splitting when soaking with baking soda?

Inquiring minds want to know. ;)
xo

Next: Eating Uncooked Kidney Beans

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Splitting beans
by: Anonymous

Thank you for your information regarding the splitting beans! I think that adding the baking soda may have contributed to the splitting as well. The photograph shows this taking place in less than two hours. After soaking over night, the beans plumped up with the water, but split completely after cooking.
I did go out and purchased canned beans for my salad in the end. Next time I will omit the soda and go for a shorter soaking period!

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Mine did the same
by: Anonymous

I just soaked some kidney beans for several hours and then split also....could be old, but though they had a very long shelf life.....

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splits!
by: MyDarlin

After reading this page about 2 weeks ago, I decided to save money and cook my own. I bought red kidney beans in bulk at Whole Foods a week ago. I began soaking them today and they all split open after 3 hours of soaking. =(

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INA
by: Anonymous

so are they good to eat,can these beans cause any harms if they are with seeds out:)?...thanx

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they all split!
by: carina

ı am planning to cook red beans today but guess I need to find something else to cook for dinner. Early in the morning I soaked a small amount of beans and after two hours they were all open! As I read on your web site that 8 hours of soaking is needed I was planning to keep them longer in the fridge but the question is 'Is it safe to eat them?'

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Let's Get A Grip...
by: Sassy

Hi Everyone!

Okay, this page has gotten a little out of hand, so let's get a grip on things so we're all on the same page:

1. YES your beans are safe to eat if they have split upon soaking.

2. When beans split upon soaking, it's not a bad thing; meaning, they will not hurt you! The only challenge with beans splitting when soaking is when looks matter (such as for a bean salad) and you don't necessarily want split kidney beans.

3. The main challenge from the original poster was that the kidney beans split after just 2 hours of soaking. The question then became WHY did they split so quickly? This was the main point of the original post.

Personally, we have soaked kidney beans for 8 hours and they have NOT split. So what's the challenge?

Is it perhaps because they were soaked in baking soda. The jury is still out on that one. Personally, I don't use baking soda for soaking and don't see the need. But this comment will likely cause people to make a comment that their family has been soaking their beans in baking soda for generations and their beans have turned out perfect every time, etc. etc. etc.

So please, just do whatever makes you happy. :)

If your beans are splitting after just a couple hours of soak, it seems to me that it's because your dry beans are likely old. Check your source and buy fresher dry beans.

Now, some people might be tempted to soak their beans for less time in case that helps them NOT split. But I disagree. Your beans still need to soak (split or not) for the proper amount of time to help with digestibility and for great nutrient availability.

You can still use up the older ones you have, soak them for the correct amount of time (6-8 hours), but if the splitting bothers you don't use them in a dish where the visual outcome is important to you.

Hope this helps to clear things up. :)
xo
Sass

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Splitbeans
by: Allyson

Thanks so much for the last comment, totally cleared it up!

I just soaked kidney beans for the first time and they all split open. At least I can still use them, they are going to be mashed up with sasa for bean borritos.

They are probably too old. I will try a different store next time.

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Yum
by: Sassy

You're welcome, Allyson. Sounds like you're cooking up something yummy over there. Enjoy. :) xo

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Not us its them
by: Anonymous

i just soaked some red kidney beans without any baking soda and after about 2 hours they looked exactly like the ones in the photo all wrinkly and opened. I noticed the tap water was a bit warm that i put on the beans but didnt think it matterd. Mine were well within the expiry date.
I had bought the same type of beans from a different store the other day and soaked them over night and they were perfectly plump with no splits so i think this has to do with the way they are dried or processed after being picked.

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Leave the beans alone!
by: Anonymous

I began soaking red beans for chili only to find 30 min in that my beans had split and the casings were shriveled. I came to the internet looking for answers. After reading your blog I went to bed disappointed, I thought my beans were trash. However this morning, after soaking all night, my beans look great! So my lesson learned is not to watch my beans soak. Leave them alone!!

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More Info Please
by: Anonymous

What is the name of the store and brand name of the beans that "were perfectly plump with no splits" after soaking overnight?

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Nothing to do with baking soda
by: Aussie

I soaked beans last night, within a few hours, they had split with wrinkled skins, disappointed I left them thinking 'bin the lot tomorrow' got up this morning to find most had closed back up and skins were normal but upon rinsing they have seperated and now have twice the amount of beans! Flat discs no plumped beans!

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Baking soda for beans
by: Jersey Jon

Hi, I was under the impression that baking soda was added to beans to condition the water so the beans could absorb it. If your beans absorbed the water as they are supposed to then there is no need for baking soda.

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My beans split -- here's why...
by: Sassy

Okay, kids, for the first time EVER my kidney beans split upon soaking.

What made the difference?

Well, we are traveling right now and don't have access to my nice big wide-mouth jar I usually use for soaking.

Instead, I used a medium-size bowl to soak my
1 cup of kidney beans for my chili. But there wasn't enough room in the bowl to add 3 times the water I would normally add.

Meh, I thought, it should be okay.

I woke up the next day to find the beans in the top half of the bowl were completely dry, meaning not surrounded by any water, and imagine my surprise to see they were all split wide open!

At home, with my wide-mouth jar, when I wake up and see my soaked beans, they are all still submerged - and only a few of them are ever split.

So my question to those of you who are experiencing this is: Are you using enough water to soak your beans?

Again, it should be at least 3 times the amount of beans. This usually equates to about 2-3 inches of water over and above the bean line. If the next day your beans are not still submerged, then you are not using enough water.

Hope this helps!
xo
Sass

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Split kidney beans
by: Anonymous

Bought bulk kidney beans and immediately submerged in cold water to soa. I didn't use any additives (baking soda) and 50% are split open. There has to be a logical reason why this is happening and hopefully a solution to solve this problem. I only wish I could figure it put.

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I've Tried all of the above and still...
by: Anonymous

I've tried every variation of soaking & cooking - they were all within expiry date - lots of H2O & less - warm & cold H2O -less time & more time soaking -not one worked ...they all exploded & when they cook they go mushy because their innards are already swollen -They are eatable, but unattractive :(
P.S. my granny always added the Baking Soda while cooking only...she said it helped limit post digestive flatulence. (I found this to be true) Since my granny was born in 1900 in Siberia where beans were a staple... she'd have known...wish I asked her about the splitting :( but at that time I used canned beans only ...but the cans now have BPA - which will raise blood pressure...bummer :(

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My beans split, too!
by: Myers509

I recently bought my kidney beans at Whole Foods and they split within a couple hours of soaking. I'm going to try to use them still, but how annoying! Whole Foods is expensive enough as is...

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Splitting Beans
by: AuntEthatsme

After watching several videos on soaking/brining beans. I have decided that my lima beans split due to the fact that there was NOT enough water.

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Water softener?
by: Anonymous

Has anyone that has tried soaking beans and has a water softener on their house had the bean soak and split problem? We have moved into a new house and installed a water softener. This is the first time I have tried cooking beans in our new home and this is the very first time I have ever experienced the bean soak and split problem. Is it possible there is something that is added to the water that could be causing this to happen? I'm anxious to hear from the community on this issue.

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Red kidney beans
by: Lin Bergeron

Seems there is no one true answer. I just today have put on to soak a lb of light red beans in a loosely covered pot with only cold tap water and plenty of it. Nothing else except that I did a 20 min soak and then rinsed them for cleansing them of any possible soil in cold water. After reading all these comments and a few hrs later I went to check them and they are puffy and only a few appear to be splitting.My difference is that these beans have been stored for a long time and I wanted to test them as I recently read that beans and rice are 2 things that remain edible for years for survival needs?
Living in NOLA for many yrs and having that as a staple meal quite often though I recall that I never soaked my dry kidneys and just threw them in the pot and boiled them for hours while adding the cajun spices ham, and smoked sausage that made them iresistable when served over rice. Point is the few that do split open are the ones that make the liquid part creamy and delicious

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Abiding the Horticulturist
by: Emily Rose

Hi All!

So my beans were in the water (filtered, no baking soda) for about two to three hours when I noticed they were splitting. I googled it and found this thread. Here's what I decided to do—which absolutely WORKED:

I thought about what the horticulturist said about the outside of the beans being so dry that when soaked, the absorbed water makes them split open. So after those first few hours, when a few of those suckers were splitting open, I did a little test. I left half of them in the water soaking, and I took half out. The hypothesis was that the batch I continued to soak would continue to split, and although appearing healed once plump, would ultimately end up as little bean-halves when cooked later. And I figured the other batch, which I removed from the water and laid out flat on a plate and stuck in the fridge over night, would have the opportunity to hydrate the outer skins enough so that when put back in the water for the rest of their 10+ hour soak, they would no longer split.

Lo and behold, each batch did exactly as I'd guessed it would.

So if you're having this issue, after soaking for the first few hours, try removing your beans from the water for at least three hours or so then putting them back in. That should solve the problem. :)

Thanks for this thread. It's been enlightening!

- Emily Rose
DeepSpiritualCoaching.com

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Re: split beans remedy
by: Linda

@Emily Rose~ Thank you for sharing your experiment with us! I am going to try what you did with taking the beans out of the water soak after a few hours and letting sit in the fridge a while before finishing the hydration. If you get this message, would you please tell us how long you soaked the beans for the second soak? Thanks!

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Soaking Time
by: Emily Rose

Hi Linda,

So this is what I did, but I'm sure you can give or take an hour or two on any part of this process. :)

First soak: 2 hours

Strain water and place on plate in fridge: 2 – 12 hours

Second soak: 10+ hours (Treating this last soak as your typical "overnight" soak.)

Hope this helps!

Happy bean hydrating!

- Emily Rose

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Yay!
by: Sassy

Wow, interesting experiment, Emily Rose!! Thank you for sharing your experience with us! :) xo

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Color differential and splitting
by: Peter

I've found that all the websites go in circles about bean preparations. I also experience bean splitting and peeling phenomenon regularly with kidney beans. I also have a question. About color. Why do canned beans have that vibrant red, while my raw kidney beans are duller in color. How can I get that dark red kidney bean? Am I getting a bad product if getting the brick red colored one?

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Canning Dark Red Kidney Beans
by: Linda

I did a little search and found this very interesting paper a student had written on the canning process and saw there is so much to getting those darling little beans to hydrate and into those cans (where much of completion of preparation for the consumer is done!)
Be aware that this is a pdf file... I hope it will help everyone with the same curiosity as I have~ Just google this, and hopefully, you will come to the same article. Read the table of contents and you should locate the sections on tempering and splitting, etc.
Copy/paste the following into your search engine:

Effect of Tempering and Other Processing Treatments on the Antinutritional
Factors and a Canning Quality Attribute of Dark Red Kidney
Beans

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Wrinkled split beans
by: Anonymous

Sadly my red beans became wrinkled and opened after only two hours of soaking! These were purchased from Bin Inn a bulk foodstore here in New Zealand. Beans were being soaked in a large bowl with cold water and nothing else......I figure the problem is....beans were not fresh.

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Red kidney beans split during soak.
by: Anonymous

Well, after having the splitting/wrinkling problem myself, I came to this spot for answers. Someone posted "I don't watch the beans soak anymore" and they were right. In the morning mine looked like there had never been a splitting/wrinkling problem. They were perfect and ready for baking!

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Kidney Beans
by: Mandy

I don't know how old this thread is, but I'll add my two cents anyway.
I'm a bit surprised at the answers, instructing to throw split/wrinkled beans away because the beans are 'old'. Am not quite sure where this info is being acquired.

It's totally normal for some beans - especially red/kidney - to wrinkle and split while soaking and in no way indicates that the beans are 'old'.
The wrinkling, as does the splitting, means that the beans are, in fact, soaking up the water, and typically the beans will first wrinkle, then fatten out again close to the end of the soaking time (4-6 hrs usually enough of a soak for kidney bns)
And some beans will split; it's just the way it goes. Doesn't make them any less safe, edible or tasty.

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kidney beans
by: kumar

usually we will have to soak it for 6 to 8 hours in normal water, and then pressure cook it. cannot really comment about the baking soda, but maybe that process is not required, but i think the shelf life for these beans in good conditions is a bit more. boiled kidney beans without spices or extra cooking. with brown rice is high protein and healthy meal.

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Split Beans
by: Ridge Creek Farms

As a bean grower I can tell you that when beans (especially Kidneys) get under 16% moisture content the outer skin becomes very sensitive to cracking. We try to harvest our beans at 18-20% moisture to reduce cracking when handling.
If the bags of beans in the store are rough handled and dropped--especially if the beans are very dry it will cause more cracking. Also if the beans look shriveled and cracked in the bag don't buy them and keep looking for better ones.
Once you've found a good supplier--stock up! (and keep them in a sealed bag to prevent moisture loss)

Hope it helps.
from Manitoba, Canada

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Thanks for the bean growing insight!
by: Sassy

Yes, it helps!! Thanks for your professional input! :) xo

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cracked and split after soaking, still cooked em
by: cocopuffyhead

I cooked the split swollen beans and something came out in the bean paste... looked like worms. Started panicking. Googled and searched. Is this the bbean root all throughout my dinner? Lol! Freaky.

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My stance....
by: Nisha

I have been soaking kidney beans for years the way my mother taught me.. All I do is soak in plenty of hot water on the stove until just starts to boil. then turn off and cover. No baking soda or anything else. Then leave for around 6 hours or overnight, before pressure cooking in plenty of water, salt and a little bicarb of soda.
Never had any issues with splitting etc. hope that helps.

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My vote for the comment from the Bean Grower
by: Anonymous

I cook dried beans a lot but what happened to my bag of kidney beans was not typical. Most of the kidney beans from the bag split and the skin peeled off while I was washing the beans. So, the splitting and peeling occurred while there was no soaking involved. I reluctantly threw away the whole bag. Having read all the comments posted, I believe the one posted by the beans grower is the one that applies to my bag of beans. Thanks to everybody for taking the time to post their experience.

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Nothing wrong with the beans!
by: Anonymous

Keep soaking. After 3-4 hours the beans will look beautiful.
As they soak more water and expand the outer layer stretches
And becomes nice and smooth.
And you have to soak them for at least 6 hours anyway.

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Baking soda
by: JoJo

Just thought that I would mention that it has been stated that baking soda will destroy the vitamin content of vegetables. I know that many people have used it in the past as it preserves the colour of the veg. I have no idea if vitamins in the beans would be destroyed in the same way though. This is slightly off the original post and I have not had any beans split on me so cannot help with the query but it seems a good enough reason to soak/cook beans in just water.

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baking soda in beans
by: Anonymous

I agree with you on not soaking the beans with soda for a long period of time; but I have used soda to fast cook(soak) and it is suppose to release the gas in order to make digestion easier. If you add the soda when the water is hot it produces foam (releasing the gas from the bean) but be sure to rinse them before adding to salad/chili.

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What fun!
by: Anonymous

I am having quite an enjoyable time reading this board. Just to add some fun fact to this exciting topic, I must dgred with the "add water" comment. If you take dry soil and add water it swells nicely, but if you fail to add water adequately then your soil dries and cracks Shaun. Thus, add copious amounts of water to guarantee s juicy bean. I have soaked 30 year old beans before, and with no issues. Have fun my friendly jelly beans.

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Alien Beans Brought Me Here
by: Celine Loves Beans

This happened to me today. Beans due to expire in 30 days so I figured I would cook them to keep from wasting. In only 10 minutes, my beans looked almost alien- like, shriveled and splitting. I tossed them, figuring they were just old.

When my nowhere-near-being-old black beans did the same thing (minus the alien looking skin peeling), I landed here. I will definitely be looking out for a better supplier in the near future.

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has nothing to do with amounts of time in water.
by: Anonymous

this happened to me today...after barely soaking. mine split right away. i used only plain water..and no baking soda. mine were brand new from the store. i think some beans just do this..and since i am going to use them for a crockpot recipe I'm not going to worry about it. it is very dry where we live and we live at a little over 6000 ft elevation. I'm starting to just believe that kidney beans must fall apart when you soak them. maybe it is the brand. mine started this in less than an hour..ive soaked them all day now and ready to put in the crock pot..after i boil them for 10 minutes first ..as recommended. this will be my first time to make kidney beans from the bag....(if i were making a salad or soup i would definitely just used canned kidney beans. however i like to make dried beans in crock pot..

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Pinto beans split open in 30 minutes after soaking in cool water
by: Geoffrey omego

I came to this blog while searching why beans pinto beans i had soaked for planting on a small garden suddenly split open into two pieces thus making them not viable for planting. I had not seen this before, i had planted some bean seeds from same bag and they did not germinate at all, and i thought that the reason was the dry weather condition. So they split open and separeted i realised thats why my beans failed to germinate and was on google looking for answers when i found this blog. I think i shall try wetting or steam my seeds for few minutes and let the outer shell expand in the fri a little and see how it works out.

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Happened to me too ;(
by: MarthaM

After reading all this comments I think that as they said before, it is not the age of the beans, is how dry they are. Since the skin also gets damage just by washing it, I will try this next time:
leaving the beans dry on a tray in the kitchen for 1 day so the moist environment will hydrate the skin gently, then just sprinkle them with water to see how the skin react and see if they are ready to be soaked. Any thoughts?

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Hmmm? Same with dried Limas
by: Anonymous

I submerged dried baby lima beans into slightly warm water with no salt and they split open immediately. It did not take 2 hours or 1 hour. It happened immediately. WTF? They actually look a little less split after a half an hour. So I'm still thinking I might go ahead and cook them. Just to see what the deal is. The expiration date says best if used bye January 2019. That's a year from now.

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Raise moisture content?
by: Jerry P

I learned that a slice of bread in a bag of overly dry cookies solved the problem. So thinking about the beans grower saying under 16% moisture content is too low, would the bread work?

I can't find dry dark red kidney beans to test (Rockford, IL) but would like to know if someone does.

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Wrinkled Skin
by: Ridge Creek Farms

As you soak your beans, the outer skin absorbs water faster than seed so it will look wrinkled until the seed is fully hydrated. Like many have commented, don't judge the bean until it has soaked overnight. Even freshly harvested Kidney Beans will have wrinkled skin after a couple hours of soaking.

If you are planting bean seed, if the two halves shift or separate (usually due to cracked seed coats or rough handling overly dry seed) it may germinate but will not grow any leaves.

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Split beans
by: VaRn209

After reading everyone’s comments, I am wondering if the splitting of the Bean has to do with the temperature of the water. I think I will perform my own little experiment… I will keep you posted. :-)

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Limas split too
by: Tubbytwo

I soaked big limas, they wrinkled. I picked skins. I drained carefully and added water to cook. Many split, I picked some skins, didn't stir.
2 hrs on high and damn they almost look normal. We'll see...

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Ok, its not the soda, its not the soaking and do not throw!
by: Stasa

I would like to thank Ridge Creek Farms from Manitoba, Canada, for sharing their expertise. I am very new to legumes preparation (sadly, because they are very healthy and delicious!) and take things from scientific perspective. I was thus impressed by Emily Rose experiment, except it definitely wouldn't work in my case. As many have described, some beans split even while just rinsing them. Mine split after 20 minutes of more than enough water (and no soda). As many observe, they are well within use by date. While splitting is annoying, its just a cosmetic flaw. Please do forgive your beans. Here is a proposal how to go forward. Soak them at least 6 hours, then they can become smoother on the skins. Then cook them properly. Then use them somewhere were splitting is almost desirable, like in a mushy stuff like pasta sauce. There is a Slovenian national dish called "matevz", where you add beans to mashed potatoes and mash the entire thing - you decide if you want it more smooth or more particle-like. It is usually eaten with sauerkraut and I highly recommend it. While I cannot hide my disappointment over this awful looking beans in my soaking pot today, I will proceed to make matevz. For more sensitive cooking where appearance matters (when you have your in-laws coming over), I will use canned beans.

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No Soak Beans
by: Ruth Alvarez

I have cooked wonderful pinto beans for over 45 years and I have never soaked them until recently when I got into canning. The recipe called for soaking them for an hour. Upon doing this, I noticed the skins came off and they were splitting. The recipe said that after soaking, I should cook them 30 minutes. After 30 minutes of cooking, many of the beans had split, and they simply looked awful especially since I generally cook very nice beans. I stopped completely and threw them away because they may be okay to eat, but beans aren't suppose to look like this. My solution is to go back to how I have always cooked beans. No soak. I put them in a crockpot and add boiling water to them. They come out intact with a wonderful pinkish brown color and NONE of them are split, falling apart, of with skins floating at the top of the pot regardless of how old the beans are.

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Canned versus cooked
by: Arrow

Disodium EDTA is used to promote color retention in canned beans
Calcium chloride is used in canning to keep beans whole.
Dont throw if they become split, just cook them and use it like in refried beans , its easier on the digestive 'system' because more lectins and oligosaccharides have leached into the soak water owing to greater contact surface area. Just remember that hundreds of people die of hunger everyday, who couldnt really care if the beans were split or whole as long as they were edible .

try soaking in lukewarm water with a little vinegar and if that helps keep them intact.1-2 tsp per quart?

Baking soda displaces calcium in the cell walls of beans and softens them, but may also cause it to break apart by softening the hulls too much?

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Soda in your beans.
by: Bohb

My mother has always put a little soda in her beans. Seems that others have learned the same thing. Maybe from their Mother. But did she tell you why? Well, we all know what beans are known for. So Mom told me it was so they wouldn't give you gas. Take THAT with a grain of salt.

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No baking soda
by: Sherry

I soaked my red beans for 3 hours so far and they split and shriveled. Exp dat 2022.

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Just leave it soaked overnight
by: Ramya

Just leave it overnight. I too was all over the place when I saw the kidney beans shrivel and split after 2 hours of soaking. I left it untouched for the next 8 hours and voila! it just became the same old even textured one. Just have some patience. there's a reason we are asked to soak it overnight.

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It’s allllllll goood!!
by: Chris

Just cook them you won’t notice the split after it’s cooked

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Splitting of red kidney beans
by: Nico

When the Red kidney beans are dried there must be a moisture content of 15 - 12% . when your beans are too dry it will split , and when the beans are old .
Warm water 50 - 60 degrees can also be use to soak beans , same as cold water but speed up the soaking process .

When beans are soaked make sure it is covered by water all the time , soaking will increase your weight by 85 - 100 %

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Here's how to prevent split and skin problems
by: Alyr

It's the banging around of the beans. Whether I soak or don't soak, I boil for 10 minutes then simmer barely perceptible on super super low for the rest of the time. In large quantity of water/broth. It also helps to have a generous amount of fat in there but I don't use any. I get my beans fresh from Rancho Gordo - the best.

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Soak them in a collander
by: Melanie D

I am from Louisiana so we do this a lot. Soak them overnight in a collander that is in a larger bowl and then only the bad ones will split. I soak them for about 12 hours. Then they will be nice and plump. Just toss the ones that float after rinsing thoroughly. Plus, don't skip the sorting step. No baking soda required. I have even done this with older beans that were past the "best by" date.
P.S. Make sure the water completely covers the beans before you go to bed.

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The long and short of this entire thread
by: Michael

So, it turns out that when you soak red beans they go through a period after about an hour where they wrinkle and are inclined to split...HOWEVER if you continue to let them soak for a good 4 hours more or so, they lose the wrinkles and recover some of their structural integrity.

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Beans Split because of Bad Storage
by: David Fish

Had the same problem today with butter beans I just bought. The expiration date is months away. The processor may not have stored them well or the warehouse. Skins fall off and beans split because they’re too dry. The skin won’t stretch when soaking resulting in falling off and splitting.

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Split Beans
by: Andrew Petersen

I think if you want beautiful kidney beans, it is best to buy canned. I have to think they are processes soon after harvest, so they would naturally retain much of their moisture. But even split soaked beans are wonderful to eat in salads, soups, refried, etc.

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Beans soak NEW
by: Tanya

When soaking beans do NOT use baking soda as it makes the water alkaline and softens the water an beans to much!! USE TABLE SALT WHEN SOAKING AN COOKING BEANS.

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Broken, Wrinkled bean skins a HUGE problem!
by: Jane Kelly

This problem is driving me crazy! No matter how long I soak them, or how old they seem to be, they wrinkle and split. I've been cooking beans for decades, and did not used to have this problem. Now I just toss them when it happens, which is just about always. I am a vegetarian and use lots of beans in our meals, so this is really a BIG problem and I desperately need to solve it.

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