Fresh and Dried Beans

All beans are created differently, not only in their looks but also in their chemistry. When it comes to cooking, there are two types of beans: easy-to-cook (ETC) and hard-to-cook (HTC). ETC beans include black beans and red haricot, whereas red kidney and pinto fall into the HTC category (and we can even toss in chickpeas). ETC beans need a shorter time to cook because they take up water much faster than HTC varieties. The Cooking Tips section in this chapter presents several methods for cooking beans.