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Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of beans
http://cookaholics.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=3519		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  TheFuzzy [ Sat Dec 28, 2013 12:32 am ]
Post subject:  Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of beans
So ...

I decided to try out my new pressure cooker doing black beans. We had some leftover ham and shrimp, so it seemed natural to do Cuban-ish beans. First trouble I had was that while everyone on the internet says that you can cook beans without any presoaking in a pressure cooker, nobody does it. I could find cooking times for non-soaked beans (about 25 minutes) on multiple sites, but I couldn't find liquid ratios anywhere. Every blog/recipe/whatever went "... you can also cook beans without presoaking in the pressure cooker. However, assuming you're soaking your beans ..." Grrr. But I digress.

Anyway, I did a quick hot soak in the pressure cooker (2 minutes), drained, and then cooked the black beans. The beans were definitely black when I closed the lid of the pressure cooker. But when I opened it, this is what I found:

Image

Um. No-longer-black-beans. Huh? We scratched our heads, and couldn't quite figure out what happened.

  • Does black bean pigment break down at temperatures above 220F?
  • Did we buy beans from an unscrupulous vendor who was painting pink beans black in order to charge an extra $0.15 per bag?
  • Did something in the cooking liquid (which included orange and lime juices) neutralize the black pigment?
  • Did aliens use a teleportation ray to swap my black beans for pintos while they cooked?

It's a mystery! Can any of you figure this out?
Author:  Cubangirl [ Sat Dec 28, 2013 2:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of be
That is very weird. I always make my black beans in the pressure cooker and have never seen that. I do soak my beans with salt and rinse them, then add water to have 1" over the beans. I've never use any other liquid (except EVOO half a cup for 1 lb.) Mine always remain black. If you don't use salt, then you use the soak water. 20 minutes on high pressure and cool immediately.
Author:  jim262 [ Sat Dec 28, 2013 7:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of be
That pot of beans appears to be overcooked. AFAIK there is not a single resource out there that can guarantee perfect results when cooking beans. Pressure Cookers and beans just vary too much.

I have never had much success cooking beans directly from the bag and always brine mine over night. Quick two hour brine can help, but quality suffers. If I do not have two hours to brine, I use canned. Brined beans freeze well, so it is possible to enjoy the benefits of brining without investing all the time on cooking day.

The brine I use is 3 Tablespoons of table salt to a gallon of water for 8-24 hours. It is a recipe from the pages of = Ho Hum! It may not be suitable in all locales.

Brined beans seldom take longer than 20 minutes under pressure with my cooker but cooking charts in books and on the web can run twice that. It is difficult to trust or blame a recipe when it comes to cooking under pressure so I do not trust cooking times until I have verified them in my cooker.
Author:  Paul Kierstead [ Sat Dec 28, 2013 11:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of be
Mine stay black too, but I've never cooked in anything that acidic which, it turns out, will turn black beans pink:

http://www.sciencenter.org/chemistry/d/ ... icator.pdf

I expect it is colour fast once cooked (I've certainly added acid after cooking)
Author:  JesBelle [ Sat Dec 28, 2013 11:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of be
I've never pressure-cooked black beans, but they are about the largest bean that I have successfully cooked without pre-soaking. I don't bother with a hot soak, which always seems to blow their little covers off. I just boil them a bit longer -- say 45 minutes, or so.
Author:  cmd2012 [ Sat Dec 28, 2013 6:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of be
I do black bean soup in the pressure cooker quite often. It's 10 minutes at high pressure for soaked beans; 20 for unsoaked. I've never had mine lose colour either.

Oops, had my times off so have edited.
Author:  pepperhead212 [ Sat Dec 28, 2013 8:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of be
Fuzzy,

It's possible that the acid breaks down the pigment, though I have never used much, except that vinegar at the end of a recipe. One thing I have noticed is that the black beans that I like the best - the shiny, almost round variety, which I find mostly in Mexican groceries - has less pigment than the Carribean variety, which is more elongated, dull black, and is what is found in Goya, and most store brands of black beans. The latter has so much pigment that when it is made into "refried black beans" it is grayish black, while the Mexican type turn sort of brown - like your mix. Did you have this type of bean?
Author:  Paul Kierstead [ Sat Dec 28, 2013 8:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of be
I'll repeat the link:

http://www.sciencenter.org/chemistry/d/ ... icator.pdf
Author:  cmd2012 [ Sat Dec 28, 2013 10:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of be
That's a cool link. I'm glad my beans have never turned green!
Author:  TheFuzzy [ Sun Dec 29, 2013 1:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Pressure cooking and the mysterious transformation of be
All,

OK, sounds like it's a combination of the acid, with using the round Mexican style "less black" black beans. Still weird, though!

Thanks for helping solve this mystery. My sweetie, of course, thought of a better title for this thread, which would have been "Does your black bean lose its color in the pressure cooker overnight?"
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