Food - Drink
Baking Soda Can Save Hours When Cooking Beans. But There's A Catch
By ANNA STAROPOLI
One of the only downsides to cooking dried beans is the long cook time, but soaking them in baking soda will get them done in just a fraction of the time, with one catch.
There are two ways to soak your beans in baking soda. You can either pre-soak your beans in baking soda or add both the beans and baking soda straight to the pot.
The baking soda’s alkaline properties make the beans soften and break down faster, but the catch is that too much baking soda can make your beans taste soapy.
You can avoid this side effect by following the right ratio. In most cases, you should cook a pound of soaked beans with no more than 1/8 of a teaspoon of baking soda.