How long do dried beans last?
Q: Pre-pandemic, most people likely bought canned beans when needed for a specific recipe, but when things got serious we switched to dried beans — beans that were likely already old. So yes, many of my dried beans are probably older than I’d prefer, all things being equal. I’ve found that they tend to split and peel during soaking. But as terrible as they look within moments of rinsing and beginning soaking, will they be safe to eat?
A: I can empathize with the reader, as I, too, have worked my way through a stash of dried specialty beans I unintentionally stocked up on days before the world shut down in March 2020.
Like many shelf-stable foods, the amount of time you store dried beans is more of an issue of quality than safety. In theory, they are safe indefinitely. In practice, they are at their best within a set amount of time.
The federal government’s FoodKeeper App recommends using dried beans within one to two years of purchasing. To keep dried beans at their best, store them in a cool, dry spot. Heat and humidity can cause them to degrade faster. If you’re concerned about their nutritional value, Utah State University Extension speculates that, similar to other foods, the vitamins in dried beans will begin to break down in two to three years and disappear after about five years. Of course, if you spot any pantry pests, or mold or unappetizing odors, in the beans, toss ’em.
The splitting and peeling is probably due to the age of the beans. They may not be rehydrating evenly or sufficiently. While not pretty to look at, they aren’t a cause for concern in terms of safety. However, they may never soften completely during cooking, and beans that are already split may blow out even more in the pot. Discard or go ahead and cook them, it’s up entirely up to you.
Older beans can take longer to soften during cooking, so choosing to soak them first is a smart move. After all, even if you know how long you’ve had the beans in your pantry (not always a given!), there’s often no way of knowing how long they were hanging around before that point. “Some beans may be warehoused for years before they find their way to supermarkets or into prepared foods,” Harold McGee says in “On Food and Cooking.” Soaking them, therefore, is “the great bean equalizer,” as Joe Yonan says in his book “Cool Beans.”
What else can you do to further ensure soft, creamy beans? America’s Test Kitchen recommends brining, using 3 tablespoons of table salt in 4 quarts of water for 1 pound of beans. Instead of brining, Joe likes to cook the beans with kombu, a type of dried seaweed, which ATK also endorsed as an alternative to soaking/brining. A pinch — and only a pinch — of baking soda added to the cooking water can reduce the time needed to achieve tender beans as well, ATK says.