Dried beans vs canned beans

ash2008

Ive never had dried beans or dried chickpeas - the whole soaking process has always tended to put me off.
So what im wondering is, am i missing out? Do the dried beans taste better than the canned or is it pretty much the same?:p

NecroSteve

Dried are far superior, both for taste and nutrition. I like to sprout them - after they've been soaked overnight, drain and rinse. Keep in the dark at room temperature for a few days, rinsing and draining once or twice a day. They should germinate, growing little white tails. This converts starch to sugar and manufactures vitamins, so you get a much better all-round food than the canned stuff, and you can eat them raw!

Or you can soak overnight and then simmer for 45 minutes, whatever, y'know.

fillefatale

Adding to the above - the dried versions are usually cheaper anyway, you're buying them in larger quantities

quaalude

Here's a thread from a couple of months ago about dried chickpeas - I posted a falafel recipe with pics, there are some other good ideas in there too:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056541908

rubadub

fillefatale wrote: »

Adding to the above - the dried versions are usually cheaper anyway, you're buying them in larger quantities

You can get massive tins of chickpeas in some asian shops which are a fraction of the price per 100g as normal supermarkets. And massive bags of dried ones.

fillefatale

rubadub wrote: »

You can get massive tins of chickpeas in some asian shops which are a fraction of the price per 100g as normal supermarkets. And massive bags of dried ones.

I used to buy these from asian shops in the UK, harder to track down in more rural parts of Ireland!

mpdg

I used to use tinned chickpeas/beans a lot but now I mostly just use dried beans. I use this method which means that I don't have to bother with soaking.

If you use recipes a lot and need a conversion for tinned to dried beans, this is helpful..

I like dried beans better in terms of taste, storage, price and texture.

rubadub

A pressure cooker will allow for a quick no soak cook. Mine is 15psi but I can run it up to 28psi. Lots on sale now are only 12psi which is pretty bad.

They do frozen chickpeas in tesco now.

Chucken

I usually buy tins (60c-ish in Aldi) but today I got 1 kilo of dried chickpeas for 2.50,in an Asian shop, I'm delighted. It will be worth it in the long run. Im cross with myself :mad: Ive never bothered buying dry beans before

waseqr

what are the frozen ones like i find that beans don't always freeze and defrost al l that well.
does the quick cook method work. I generally soak for as long as i can and then cook for 20 mins to an hour (depending on the bean).
because of this i generally do big batches which i try and freeze if there was a better way i'd be all for it.