PINTO BEANS, 20 LB

The humble pinto bean and how I like to use them... I love to talk about pinto beans because when I was first married and figured out that I could use dry beans to stretch our family's budget, I made a lot of kitchen bloopers. The first time I tried to soak them overnight, they ended up swelling inside the jar so tightly, that I had to get them out with a knife! I've learned a lot since then, and I've come up with a neat idea that helps me keep dry beans at the ready for a quick supper. I'll share it with you in a minute. Sorting Before you use dry beans, especially larger beans like pintos, you need to sort through them to make sure there aren't any stones or clumps of dirt in them. Even mechanically cleaned beans will have a few stones in them - I almost always find a small pebble or two in my pinto beans. Soaking Because pinto beans are dry, they need to be soaked for at least 12 hours before you cook them. A good rule of thumb is that the beans will double in size when they