Dried beans worth the effort: Try your hand at this cranberry bean and farro soup for starters

When you’re making soup that calls for beans, there’s nothing easier than opening a can or two and dumping them in the pot.

But is that the best we can do?

Yes, when you make something with dried beans, you have to plan ahead — hours and hours ahead. Cooking them is interminably slow and, sometimes, unpredictable. Honestly, what other ingredient sometimes calls for a two-hour window of cooking time?

But I am here to say it can be worth the trouble. Dried beans are cheaper, healthier, and, dare I say, tastier. Plus, you have a lot more control over the texture.

This Cranberry Bean and Farro Soup recipe is a perfect starter soup for trying your hand at dried beans. It’s straightforward, and the result is a simple, hearty dish that showcases the main ingredient — cranberry beans, which are creamy with a slightly nutty flavor.

If cranberry beans (also known as borlotti beans) aren’t available, you can easily substitute kidney or red pinto beans. You want a soft and creamy bean that pairs nicely with the chewy farro.

Simply spiced, the soup is finished off with crispy pancetta and Parmesan. Feel free to leave that out or add leftover meat and chicken as the soup is cooking. I shredded a bit of leftover pot roast and added it, and it was a hit with the meat lover in my family. Like many soups, this tastes better the second day.

Of course, there isn’t one way of cooking beans, and our moms and grandmothers probably have a few opinions on the topic. But generally speaking, you need to soak them in cool water for at least six hours, which helps speed up the cooking time and can help them cook evenly.

Should you toss away the soaking water or use it? The water contains vitamins and nutrients, but some folks say it’s best to rinse the beans after soaking to avoid the gastric distress some people experience. There’s no real science on this, so it’s up to you.

As with anything, there’s a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, it’s as easy as opening a can — well, almost.

• M. Eileen Brown is the Daily Herald’s vice president of sales and marketing and an incurable soup-a-holic. She specializes in vegetarian soups and blogs at http://soupalooza.com/

Cranberry Bean and Farro Soup

1 cup dried cranberry beans

3 carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into ½-inch pieces

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, sliced

6 cups water (can use soaking water or equal amounts of vegetable or chicken broth)

2 fresh oregano sprigs

1 cup pearled farro

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 ounces thickly sliced pancetta, chopped for garnish

1½ cups baby spinach

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Sort the beans and rinse under cold running water. Put the beans in a large bowl, add cold water to cover by at least 2 inches and let stand at room temperature overnight.

Transfer the beans to a slow cooker. Add the carrots, onion, celery, garlic, water and oregano and stir well. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. Uncover and stir in the farro, tomatoes, vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt and several grinds of pepper. Re-cover and continue to cook on low for 2 hours.

Check on the beans — they should be tender, not mushy, and the farro should be still slightly firm.

About 5 minutes before the soup is ready, in a heavy fry pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the pancetta and sauté, until crisp and golden. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. When the soup is ready, remove the oregano sprigs. Top each serving with an equal amount of the spinach, then garnish with the Parmesan and pancetta and serve immediately

Serves 6

— Adapted from Williams Sonoma “Quick Slow Cooking” by Kim Laidlaw