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Crunchy Beans

April 9, 2010 by Laura Blodgett 8 Comments

Anyone who has ever entertained ideas of frugality, food storage, a back-to-basics diet, or farmstead cooking has tried cooking dry beans.  I have a good supply of beans in my downstairs pantry, maybe a few too many, maybe a few years old, and they appear to get drier all the time.

Earlier this week I brought some black beans to a boil, soaked them overnight, and put them in the fridge for use soon.  My husband likes to cook up pots of tasty beans, so I said he could have some of them. He cooked them for hours and they were still quite hard.  He cooked them a few more hours the next day and they yet retained some firmness.  I knew I faced a challenge when I decided to use some of the beans for a soup today, but needed it midday.  I began my project around 9 AM.

I had stored the beans in 3-4 containers, and with the ones Greg had cooked, was having trouble identifying which were mine and which were his.  I never eat anything he has cooked without verifying its hot chili content.  I asked Beth to email him, since we couldn’t reach him by phone.  She wrote:

“Dear sir,

We would like to respectfully inquire whether or not the beans in the square white container in the refrigerator are to be considered your personal property or if they can be added directly to the communal ham and soup pot.

Sincerely,
The Bean Inquiry Committee (BIC) “

We didn’t hear back, but I proceeded as best I could.  After the soup was well under way he responded with the longest email I can recall ever receiving from him.  Maybe the most words ever used in one instance:

“Dear BIC,


Thank you so much for your inquiry.  At this time, I make no personal claim to any containers of beans.

Furthermore, for your peace of mind, to the best of my knowledge, there are no containers of beans in any location on the premises that contain noticeable levels of any substance that would register high on the Scoville scale.

Still, for the sake of full disclosure, I believe there are several containers of beans in various states of preparedness.  There should be some in a glass container indoors that are the most prepared to be eaten.  These might be reserved for stand alone consumption.  I believe there are others outside that are within hours of tenderness.  Finally, I believe there are still others inside that may be quite unyielding.

I hope you find this information useful.

Sincerely …

We ate at 12:30 and the kids assured me the  soup and beans were yummy and not breaking any teeth.  I had to agree with them, however, the beans were still moderately crunchy.   I have an abundance more of them downstairs to experiment more on.

Filed Under: Cooking and Food

Comments

  1. D.J. says

    April 9, 2010 at 2:40 pm

    LOL Awesome communication skillz! I guess Dad was having a slow day at work? 😉

    Reply
    • Laura says

      April 9, 2010 at 2:43 pm

      I don’t think Dad has had a slow day at work for quite some time now. You’ll have to ask him what ‘came over him’ 😀

      Reply
  2. Anob says

    April 9, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    😀 Funny.

    Reply
  3. Heidi says

    April 9, 2010 at 4:16 pm

    No kidding! That’s practically a novel. I guess he’s really getting into this writing / alter ego thing with Beth. 😀 (Maybe example has something to do with it???)

    BTW, those little muffins are teh cutez. I want one. Or five.

    Also, are we sure he’s the one who penned that response? In the absence of handwriting evidence, I am inclined to be suspicious … Not that he couldn’t. It’s just … long. O.o

    Reply
    • Laura says

      April 9, 2010 at 4:19 pm

      It is in the dry humor style of his normally shorter answers…

      Reply
  4. Ronibird says

    April 9, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    I am still very much liking the corn muffins baked in the petit fours pan.

    Reply
  5. Kim says

    April 9, 2010 at 10:19 pm

    Funny! Corn muffins – Mmmm…..Crunchy Beans – TBD.

    Reply
  6. Natalie says

    April 10, 2010 at 10:58 am

    Will it become a contest now to see who can get the longest reply via email from him? It will be a hard record to break, Beth, but there is a chance…

    Reply

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