The Whole Wheat

This video demonstrates how to make black beans in the crock pot. A few notes:

• the cat is NOT allowed on the counters. She clearly wanted to be a part of the video.
• If you are looking for these beans, I purchased Rancho Gordo’s Black Turtle beans. All of their beans are excellent so please enjoy!
• The black beans I cooked took just under 5 hours with no soaking. The great part about using the crockpot is that it warms up slowly and actually acts as a brief soak for the beans. The fresher your beans the closer to the 4-5 hour mark they will cook. They may take closer to 6 and that is fine!
• Cook the beans on the HIGH setting of your slow cooker for crockpot. Low would take a very long time!
• As I mention towards the end, beans freeze easily and happily. It is always a great idea to make extra to freeze.
• I store the beans with the stock they cooked in. Once I’ve eaten them I may save the stock for a soup or rice dish. It generally has a lot of flavor and is worth using.

Let me know how your beans in the crockpot experience goes!

Here is the recipe if you prefer to read rather than watch.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. black turtle beans
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 pieces of celery
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 T. epazote (opt.)
• 6-8 c. of chicken or vegetable stock, or just water

1. Sort through the black beans to remove any stones. Rinse well.
2. Chop the onion into about 8 chunks. Chop the carrots & celery into ~1-inch pieces.
3. Smash & peel the garlic.
4. Add all the ingredients to the crock pot container. Ensure that there are at least 2″ of liquid covering the beans. If not simply add more.
5. Turn the crocpot to HIGH. Start to check the beans after about 4 hours, though most will cook in 5-6 hours.
6. Serve immediately or allow to cool then store in the refrigerator or freeze. Beans defrost easily and even handier than a can!