Cooking and Flavoring Your Beans
Soak your beans for 24 hours. Place your black beans in warm water in a warmer place in your home. For example, if your kitchen tends to be cozier, place your black beans in a bowl of warm water there. When fermenting beans, they need to soak at least 24 hours before cooking. When fermenting beans, you need to start with dry beans rather than canned beans.
Cook the beans slowly with plenty of liquid. After 24 hours have passed, drain the beans using a colander. Then, you can cook them over the stove. Add some water to the beans. There is no precise amount of water to add, but more liquid is generally better. Make sure the beans are at least covered. To cook your beans, bring them to a boil. Let them boil for 10 minutes before reducing the heat to low. Simmer the beans for 40 minutes to an hour.
Add in spices. Spices should be added to taste and it's up to you which spices you want. Black beans tend to pair well with spices like garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cilantro, and fresh herbs.
Fermenting Your Beans in Jars
Add in your chosen culture. A culture helps beans ferment. You should add about a tablespoon of culture (15 mL) per cup of beans (240 mL). Cultures can be purchased online or at a health food store. Any of the following would be a good culture to ferment black beans: Whey culture Powdered starter culture Kombucha Brine from lacto-fermented vegetables
Break the skins. After mixing in your culture, gently mash the beans using a spoon. This will break the skins slightly and gently bruise the beans. This allows the culture to to bet past the skins and into the starch of the beans. The culture then converts the starch into probiotics.
Store your beans in jars. Beans need to process for several days to complete the fermenting process. Find a sealed container, such as a jar. Fill the container with your beans and seal the lid tightly. Place the jars in a warm place in your home where they will not be disturbed.
Release gas as needed. Keep an eye on the jars while your beans are processing. When the lids are protruding, this means too much gas is building up in the jars. Open protruding jars to release the gas and then reseal them. Check on the beans a couple of times a day to see if any gas has built up.
Eating and Storing Fermented Beans
Add fermented beans to salads and dips. Fermented beans can be sprinkled over salads to add some extra nutrition and a funky umami flavor. You can also mash fermented beans into a rich, flavorful dip to serve with things like tortilla chips. Fermented beans can also be eaten on their own as a snack. They pair well with garlic, ginger, and other Asian ingredients. They also go well in braised meats, tofu dishes, and soups..
Store your beans properly. After your beans have fermented, you can keep storing them in the airtight containers you used to process them. Keep your beans in the fridge.
Discard your beans after six months. Date your fermented beans when storing them. This way, you can keep track of when to throw them away. Fermented beans generally only last around six months.
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