Constance said:
I've heard the same thing about adding salt. Do you know anything about that, Weed?
I always use a hambone and some ham pieces in with my beans, so I don't salt them until they're cooked anyway, as you never know how much salt is going to come out of the ham.
Yup. Sure do. Someone told me that adding salt before the beans were fully cooked will stop the beans from softening up. Someone else told me that acid was the bad ingredient. So, you know me, I had to experiment. The results were unmistakable. Adding salt to the beans, right from the start did not affect the bean quality, and in fact, helped flavor the beans. In the other batch, using beans from the same package, adding acid, imediately halted the cooking process and the beans were hard, dry, and tough.
My hypothesis is that the protiens reacted to the acid and formed a barrier, inhibiting the absorption of water into the bean. I was able to save that bad pot of beans, but only by overnight refrigeration, and susequent baking for several hours.
But the facts ma'm, and nothing but the facts, is that adding salt, or salty meat to the beans did nothing to make them hard.
I'm not sure how acidic onions are, but I don't add them to any bean pot until the beans are very soft. I know that ketchup and tomato products can't be added. And if the beans are almost soft, when acidity is added, the beans become hard and dry. They have to be completely soft, fully cooked.
Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North