Dry Beans

January 20, 2015 5:27 PM

Soaked, now what?

Put my beans in to soak yesterday to cook today. Now have to wait till tomorrow to cook them.

Do I leave them at room temperature in their soaking water ( plus baking soda,) drain and renew the water - soak until tomorrow, move to refrigerator to continue soaking, or drain and refrigerate until tomorrow?

Or even something else.

Many thanks.

posted by leafwoman to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

Best answer: I'd drain them and put them in a ziplock bag in the fridge, personally. Whatever you do don't leave them soaking at room temperature! Beans in standing water will start to ferment after about 24 hours (which may not kill you, but which is certainly not tasty).
posted by drlith at 5:31 PM on January 20, 2015 [5 favorites]

Best answer: I have obsessed over this very question in the past.

Fortunately, Penn State has the answer! The short of it is that the heat of the cooking will probably kill anything that would show up overnight, but you can also just put them in the fridge.

For future reference, here's the "quick soak" method they recommend:

Bring water and beans to a boil, cover and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand 1 hour. Drain and further cook.

posted by teponaztli at 5:35 PM on January 20, 2015 [2 favorites]

I had this problem once and just left them in the water. The beans sprouted and I had to start all over...
quick soak method it is for me from now on.
posted by missriss89 at 6:15 PM on January 20, 2015

Agreeing with what's been said: drain and container the beans and put into fridge, then cook with fresh water tomorrow. (and not that you asked, but for the future, Rick Bayless' method of slow cookering beans yields great results - toss 1 lb. sorted/rinsed beans and 8 cups water into a pot, bring to a boil, then pour both into the slow cooker for a few hours. No soaking needed.)
posted by AliceBlue at 6:31 PM on January 20, 2015

As long as you change the water every day you can leave them in the fridge a couple of days. Cooking and eating sprouted beans is not a problem.
posted by fiercekitten at 6:49 PM on January 20, 2015

I just read this article about how soaking beans tends to be less flavorful than just cooking with them - you may be interested in it for future cookery!
posted by vegartanipla at 7:20 PM on January 20, 2015 [3 favorites]

Nthing "it's fine to put them in the fridge if you can't get to them."

But in future, I also recommend the quick-soak method - boil the hell out of 'em for a couple minutes, then soak for just an hour or so. This method is also good because, in the words of a Greek playwright I know, "it gets rid of the farts."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:30 PM on January 20, 2015

I just did this yesterday. Drain the water, fridge overnight. Mine just finished cooking and are mighty tasty, no ill effects.
posted by theweasel at 8:08 PM on January 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

Be aware that if you choose to cook your beans in a slow cooker, you'll want to boil them first. Slow cookers often have trouble getting the beans to high enough temperatures to destroy the Phytohaemagglutinin toxin they contain.

More Info:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/CausesOfIllnessBadBugBook/ucm071092.htm
http://www.dadcooksdinner.com/2010/09/slow-cookers-and-red-kidney-bean.html
posted by fremen at 9:49 PM on January 20, 2015

The thing is, even if the beans would start to prepare for sprouting (in principle, that process starts when you put them into the water), the chance that something nasty grows inside the beans is small. Sprouts is living vegetable, not prepared-waiting-for-consumption-type-of-matter. My solution is if my soaking timing is off a half day or so, to drain, and soak in fresh water, in the fridge, overnight.
posted by Namlit at 3:12 AM on January 21, 2015