How to Cook Fresh Beans (Traditional Method)

Beans, Beans, the magical fruit...

I adore cooking black beans because it looks like an something from a witch's cauldron.
"Double, double, toil and trouble..."
The foam on top is normal.  It is not soap and comes from the beans. 
It is why you rinse them so much in cooking. 
Do not 'bean' alarmed. 
Your beans are not evil.

I avoid canned beans and all canned foods due to sulfites.  Took me twenty years to figure out all my headache triggers, but yes, sulfites are like popping open a headache in a can.  Urp.  No thank you.

Fresh beans are so easy to do and a fraction of the cost of canned beans.  Did I mention being vegan cuts your grocery bill in half?

Here in the Garlic Capital, I like to get my beans from the fun little "natural and organic" store located behind the bank on First Street.  Prices are good and they carry a large selection of vegan items.  Bonus: the owners are nice folks who offer to carry your groceries to the car.

Here are a few tutorials I used for learning how to batch cook fresh beans.

How to Cook Black Beans

How to cook and freeze kidney beans

Eventually, I did come up with my own method which is delightfully simple.

1) Rinse beans in cold water.  Pick through to discard any small stones or debris. 
2) Cover beans with three inches of cold water and soak overnight.
3) Rinse again in cold water.
4) Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add your rinsed beans and heat until simmering.

Turn off heat and let sit for one hour or until beans are soft.

If you will be using them in a recipe, (i.e chili), you do not need to worry about cooking until completely soft as the beans will soften more as your chili blends together.