What does it mean to sort beans?

I have some bags of dried beans. The instructions say, for overnight soaking:

OVERNIGHT SOAK: Rinse and sort beans in a large pot. To 1 lb. of beans (about 2 cups), add 6-8 cups cold water. Let stand overnight or at least 6 to 8 hours. Drain soak water and rinse beans.

What does it mean to sort beans, exactly?

beans

Best Answer

Sorting means a few things:

Remove foreign objects like small stones, other seeds, twigs.... that may have accidentally been packed with the beans.
Remove damaged (think insect damage, for example) or otherwise shrivelled, infected or moldy beans and loose skins. Hint: Hollow beans and skins float up.
Double-check for bug infections. Sometimes there are little hitchhikers, even if you have impeccable hygiene at home.

It boils down to making sure you have nothing in the pot that doesn't belong in your meal.

Pictures about "What does it mean to sort beans?"

What does it mean to sort beans? - Crop man near heap of coffee beans

What does it mean to sort beans? - Crop unrecognizable horticulturists with sieves separating unroasted coffee bean halves from chaff in countryside in daylight

What does it mean to sort beans? - Farmer with sieve sorting dry coffee beans in countryside

Quick Answer about "What does it mean to sort beans?"

Rinsing & Sorting Rinsing and sorting beans is the initial step in cooking dried beans. This simply involves rinsing your beans, peas or lentils in a colander or strainer to get rid of field dust and dirt, and then sorting – moving them around with your hands to remove any stray pebbles, twigs or imperfect beans.

Do you really need to sort beans?

In addition to the natural things found in dried beans that shouldn't be, you also need to sort beans to get out the \u201cbad beans\u201d. The meal you worked so hard on doesn't need any of these unsavory things in it so they must be removed.

How do you sort beans quickly?

Sort: Arrange dried beans on a sheet pan or clean kitchen towel and sort through them to pick out any shriveled or broken beans, stones or debris. (Take our word for it; running your fingers through the beans in the bag doesn't work the same.) Rinse: Rinse the sorted beans well in cold, running water.

How to Sort Beans (Cooking Tip)

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