About soaking beans before planting: is it necessary, how correctly, for how long?

Rich in protein, carbohydrates, amino acids and vitamins, bean seeds are comparable in nutritional value only to meat, which means they deserve to take pride of place in the diet of both healthy people and those diagnosed with diseases of the heart, urinary tract and digestive tract. In addition to seeds, dry leaves, which are used in the treatment of diabetes, can also bring health benefits.

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Sep 7, 2020

Tasty and healthy - preparing viburnum jam for the winter

Snack option

For this recipe you will need the following products:

beans – 2 kg;
700 g each of sweet peppers, tomatoes. The same amount of carrots is needed;
vegetable oil – 300g;
a glass of sugar;
salt – 1.5 tbsp;
vinegar essence – 0.5 tsp;
glass of water;
ground black pepper – 5 g.

Cooking method. The beans are pre-cleaned. Then they need to be boiled for 15 minutes in three waters .
Each time you need to drain the water and pour new one. After this, transfer to a colander to drain the water. To avoid wasting time while the beans are cooking, you can start preparing other vegetables. Cut the sweet pepper into strips, dice the tomatoes, grate the carrots.

As soon as the water has drained, you need to place them back in the pan and add all the other ingredients. Let it cook. You need to cook for no more and no less than 2 hours .

While everything is being prepared, it’s worth getting ready to prepare the jars: sterilize them. Place the appetizer in jars, close the lid and cover warm. Let the workpiece stand and cool.

Bean salads for the winter

These dishes are delicious and nutritious. They can be either an appetizer or a side dish. This salad can also be added to a delicious soup.

Salad with beans for the winter made from them and sweet peppers

You will need:

800 g beans;
2.5 kg. red pepper, sweet;
2 liters of tomato juice;
kilogram of carrots;
a glass of vegetable oil;
250 ml vinegar 9%;
salt and sugar are added to taste.

Let's start cooking. Peel and rinse the legumes . Cook until done. You should first prepare the carrots: take a large grater and chop the vegetables.

Sweet peppers for salad must be peeled and cut into strips.

Take a large saucepan, pour tomato juice into it, add vegetable oil and vinegar. Let it boil. After the tomato juice boils, you need to add prepared carrots to it. Cooking time – 15 minutes.

Add sweet pepper to the prepared products. Cook the same amount. Beans, salt, sugar are added at the end of cooking.

Stir the vegetable mixture for the salad. Cooking time is a quarter of an hour. While the vegetables are cooking, you can prepare jars into which to place the finished, hot dish. Close the lid. Turn over and leave to cool.

From beans and eggplants

You will need:

a kilogram of eggplant, carrots, beans;
2 liters of tomato juice;
kilogram of onions;
half a liter of vegetable oil;
a couple of heads of garlic;
sugar, salt to taste.

The dish is simple to prepare. Boil the beans. Let them cool, drain the liquid and process in a meat grinder. Also twist the garlic.

Onions and eggplants must be cut into cubes . For carrots, take a grater.

Place all salad ingredients into a large saucepan. Pour tomato juice over the vegetables, add spices and oil. Stir and place on low heat. Cooking time: 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Place the finished dish into prepared jars.

From beans and tomatoes for the winter

You will need:

one and a half kg of young beans;
kilogram of tomatoes;
several onions;
essence of vinegar - tsp;
3 tsp. salt;
tsp ground black pepper;
half tsp allspice, ground.

Delicious recipes for the winter

Despite some contraindications, beans are an excellent ingredient for many dishes. Don't overdo it with their use, and everything will be fine.

To stock up on the product at home, in favorable conditions, the following recipes will suit you:

beans in spicy tomato sauce;
in concentrated tomato paste;
white beans, canned;
red;
homemade appetizer with added vegetables;
lecho with beans;
pickled beans;
bean caviar;
canned green beans.

These recipes should be available to every housewife who wants to pleasantly surprise her family and friends. Let's look at each recipe in more detail.

Beans in tomato sauce

Beans and tomatoes are a wonderful combination of flavors that harmoniously complement each other. The dish, in addition to its taste, carries a charge of healthy vitamins and minerals, which are especially necessary in winter.

To prepare according to the original recipe you will need:

beans - 1 kilogram;
tomatoes – 4 kilograms;
onion – 0.5 kilograms;
sunflower oil – 100 grams;
carrots – 1 piece;
salt – 1 spoon;
granulated sugar – 1 spoon;
spices - to taste.

Beans must be prepared before cooking by soaking them in cold water for 5-6 hours.
The prepared beans should be boiled. Try not to overcook the product - this will negatively affect its texture and overall attractiveness of the dish.
Onions and carrots are finely chopped and fried in a frying pan until a nice, golden crust appears.
It is advisable that the tomato used in the dish does not have a peel. To do this, remove it before cooking or puree the tomato mixture in a blender.

Place a large saucepan on the fire, pour oil into it and place the onions, carrots and tomatoes in it. Mix the mixture thoroughly and cook it over medium heat for 15-20 minutes.
After the specified time has passed, add salt, spices and sugar to the pan. Stir the mixture again, then add the beans to the pan.
As soon as the tomato-bean mixture has boiled, pour it into prepared containers for preparations.
We roll up the container with a lid, turn it upside down and send it to a specially prepared place, covering the jars with a blanket.
After a day, remove the workpieces to the cellar.

In tomato paste

Simplified modification of the first recipe. The cooking process is made easier by using tomato paste instead of making your own tomato sauce. To prepare the preparations, prepare:

beans - 1 kilogram;
onions – 3 pieces;
carrots – 2 pieces;
salt, sugar and spices to taste;
water – 5 liters;
tomato paste – 1 small jar;
a quarter cup of vegetable oil.

Cook the beans by adding sugar and salt to the water.
Fry onions and carrots in a saucepan, then pour in the water remaining after cooking the beans and add concentrated tomato paste purchased at the store to the resulting broth.
Once the liquid has boiled, set aside for 15 minutes. Once the time is up, add the cooked beans and the remaining oil.
Cook the mixture for another 15 minutes.
We roll up the jars and put them away for storage in the cellar.

Canned white beans

beans – 1 kilogram;
three kilograms of tomatoes;
salt and sugar - 2 tablespoons each;
two bay leaves;
hot pepper – 1 pod;
allspice – 10 peas.

soak the beans and boil them in water with the addition of salt and granulated sugar;
Scald the tomatoes with boiling water and puree them in a blender. If you don't have a blender, a regular meat grinder will do;
Prepare a large saucepan or bowl in which you place the cooked beans and chopped tomatoes. Cook over low heat for half an hour, adding spices prepared in advance during the cooking process;
distribute the resulting mixture into jars and send them to the cellar for storage.

Note! Beans should not be overcooked, otherwise they will lose their consistency and fall apart during cooking.

Red

To prepare the dish you will need the following ingredients:

red beans – 1 kilogram;
onion – 0.5 kilograms;
vinegar 9% - 3 tablespoons;
granulated sugar and salt - 2 teaspoons;
carrots – 3 pieces;
Sunflower oil – 100 milligrams.

Recipe: Soak the beans overnight in cold water, then boil them. Chop the onions and carrots, then send them to fry in a frying pan. Place a saucepan on the fire, placing beans, onions and carrots in it. Pour out the oil not used during frying and cook the dish for 10 minutes. Distribute into prepared jars and seal the pieces with a lid.

Snack with added vegetables

Pickled beans with the addition of vegetables are considered one of the most delicious, and you should definitely prepare such a dish. Preservation is prepared using the following ingredients:

beans - 4 kilograms;
tomatoes – 1 kilogram;
eggplants – 100 grams;
bell pepper – 0.5 kilograms;
salt – 2 tablespoons;
granulated sugar – 1 spoon;
spices to taste;
vinegar 9% – 1 spoon;
Sunflower oil – 200 milliliters.

Preparation is carried out as follows:

Soak the beans for 6 hours, then boil.
Blanch the tomatoes and remove the skin.
Punch the prepared tomatoes in a blender or grind in a meat grinder.
Pour the resulting mass into a saucepan, adding butter, granulated sugar and salt.
Cook the tomato mixture for 20 minutes.

Chop the eggplants and peppers. We cut the eggplants into cubes and the peppers into strips.
Add beans and eggplant to the tomatoes and leave them to simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
Add pepper and vinegar at the end, cooking them along with the rest of the ingredients for 5 minutes.
Distribute the mixture among the jars and cover them with lids.

Important! Jars and lids used for preparations must be sterilized. Otherwise, the shelf life of the dish will be greatly reduced, and all the work will go down the drain.

Pickled beans

The only type of bean used in the pickling process is the green bean. Pickling this variety is not difficult, and it retains all the nutritional elements beneficial to the body.

To prepare the recipe you will need:

green beans – 1 kilogram;
black pepper – 4 peas;
water – 1 liter;
sugar and salt - 2 tablespoons;
9% vinegar - 2 teaspoons.

Recipe: remove the tails and stalk from the pods, after which the beans must be thoroughly washed. Blanch the prepared pods and rinse again with cold water. Once the pods are prepared, the housewife needs to decide in what form the pods will be used. There are 2 options for the development of events:

use whole pods;
cut them into equal halves.

Cut beans are easier to place in a jar, and they can be immediately added to other dishes without being distracted by cutting. Next, we sterilize the container for the preparations and send our beans there. Try to pack them tightly, but do not press too hard to avoid damaging the product.

How to prepare beans for the winter

In addition to drying, you can prepare a salad of tomatoes, carrots, and onions from them.
You will need the following products: beans, tomatoes, carrots, onions, bay leaves, vinegar, sugar, salt, ground black pepper.

Boil the beans. Chop the tomatoes and place them on low heat.

Carrots are cut into strips and sautéed in vegetable oil. Prepare the onions in the same way. Important! Vegetables need to be sautéed separately.

Mix all the products, add beans and spices, boil everything for 10 minutes and place in the prepared container. Roll up and leave to cool. This preparation is stored both in the refrigerator and in the cellar.

How to dry flowers

I want to share my experience and tips on how to dry flowers

Tip #1

DRYING FLOWERS IN A BOOK

(OR UNDER PRESS)

BOOK is a simple and common way of drying plants, and, moreover, the most successful! Before drying flowers, you should make sure that they are dry, otherwise it will ruin the book and even cause mold on the flowers! Many flowers themselves are juicy and watery, which is why they should be placed in white writing paper; it is thick and most suitable, unlike napkins (napkins print on plants and spoil the appearance). My personal advice is to place absolutely all flowers, without exception, in white writing paper! Flowers dry in 2 weeks, sometimes faster, for example only 3-5 days. Many flowers retain color, but some, on the contrary, lose color, and with any of the drying methods!

PRESS DRYING is quite effective, there are different variations and therefore I offer my own option. You will need: a press, cardboard, cotton wool, gauze cloth, round cotton pads. You must fill the gauze cloth with a layer of cotton wool of 1-1.5 cm. More is possible, then you will need to fold it in half, and place the plants inside with or without cotton pads, then put the gauze cloth in the cardboard and put a press on top, for example a heavy one book, etc. Please note that you need to put the plants in cotton pads with them straightened and with the front side of the flower facing away from you, there should be 2 cotton pads, i.e. above and below, they are needed to preserve the flower. You can do without cotton pads, then the plants are laid out with the front side facing away from you on the cotton wool (and the cotton wool is already lying on the gauze), folded in half and pressed. The gauze print itself can ruin the plants, i.e. they turn out to be checkered and striped, but is that really beautiful!? You can experiment and use only cotton wool or one gauze cloth and cotton pads in the process, the goal is to preserve the shape of the flower and its volume.

Tip #2

HANGING FLOWERS

Perhaps the best and easiest way to dry flowers! Flowers with a stem of 5-10 cm, tie tightly with thread and hang down with flowers, leaving until completely dry! We must remember that flowers still retain their shape - dried flowers, flowers that dry out easily and dry out, retaining their shape, and some plants simply dry out and lose their appearance.

After the flowers are dried, they need to be preserved in a dried form; the flowers become fragile and brittle. Bulk flowers should be stored in plastic cups or separate boxes; you can put them in paper bags (see photo) and put all the dried flowers in a closed box.

Tip #3

DRYING FLOWERS IN SEMONA

Do you like semolina porridge? And I only like it with jams and sweets for a bite!

Well, this is a controversial method of drying; it has its own subtleties, despite the simplicity shown in master classes on this topic. In the selection of photos you can see what the end result is, how well the color and colors are preserved. Remember that the semolina should be dry and the more expensive one is better, this is my personal opinion and based on the result obtained! Plants should be placed with the front side facing away from you, or sideways. I came to the conclusion that you shouldn’t cover it too much with semolina, it will only make things worse, it’s better to sprinkle it lightly, otherwise all this will only crush the plants, compress them and cause mold and rot! Many plants are not able to survive such drying; they crumble. If you pour semolina inside the plants, it will not preserve their shape at all, but rather crush them with its weight (although bells lend themselves to such an experiment, but roses become loose and crumble). After the flowers have dried, you need to carefully remove them, lightly picking them up with a long needle, for example, and then clean the semolina with a brush; if the plant is stable, then blow off the semolina. It is worth keeping in mind that if the semolina is not thoroughly cleaned, it will later appear in crafts, for example in epoxy resin, and perhaps even rot there

In the selection of photos you can see how some plants retain their color and that’s great

Now a little about the semolina itself for the process of drying plants. Well, in the photo I have two types of semolina (yellow expensive, white cheap). Expensive semolina is best suited, it has a grainy structure, it is denser, while cheaper semolina, on the contrary, is soft, it seems to be somehow damp, it spoils the plants, and a rotten smell appears in it. I think it’s worth drying any semolina a little before using!? First, conduct an experiment on unnecessary plants, so that you can understand how it works, what dries perfectly, and what should not be spoiled by this method of drying!? The main thing in this matter is the desire to achieve a positive result!

Friends! This was my little master class on drying plants and I told only about those methods that I myself have tested in practice, and some methods have yet to be tried (oven, microwave, other types of cereals, salt, etc.). Despite the difficulties and even losses from improper drying, I still managed to dry and preserve a few plants. I have voluminous plants and flat ones. If you need anything or have questions, I’m happy to chat and share both tips and dried flowers!

Everyone, good luck to everyone!

Prepared bean salad for the winter

beans 800 g;
kilogram of carrots;
2.5 kg of red sweet pepper;
2 liters of tomato juice;
250 ml vinegar 9%;
a glass of vegetable oil;
salt;
sugar.

Recipe

First of all, you need to peel the fruits themselves and boil them until tender.

Then start preparing the marinade. It will require oil, tomato juice and vinegar. These ingredients need to be mixed and grated carrots added to them. Cook everything together for 15 minutes. Add sweet pepper into strips and cook for another 15 minutes.

Now you need to put the prepared salad into jars and roll it up.

Sauerkraut beans for the winter

To do this you will need a kilogram of beans in pods , 25 - 20 g of salt and your favorite spices.

Recipe. The pods need to be washed, broken into two parts and blanched in a 3% salt solution. Place the prepared vegetables in a container, sprinkle with salt, spices, bean leaves and compact.

Place a layer of clean grape leaves on top, cover everything with a damp towel, place a circle and a weight. Leave at room temperature for fermentation, then move to the cellar.

For the winter, legumes can be frozen. To do this, they need to be cleaned, blanched in boiling water for several minutes, cooled and dried. Place bean fruits in bags. Store in the freezer.

Recipe for preparation with tomatoes

For this workpiece you need to take:

tender beans 800 g;
600 ml water;
100 – 200 ml tomato paste;
a teaspoon of salt;
a tablespoon of sugar;
ground black pepper.

Step-by-step preparation

Hull and rinse the beans.
Transfer to a container.
Preparing the filling. Dilute tomato paste with water 1 to 3. Add spices to it.
Add the filling to the beans.
Bring to a boil and leave over low heat until done. This will take about an hour.
As soon as they become soft, place them in previously prepared sterilized jars and seal.
Wrap the salad and leave to cool.

There are many recipes for cooking from a variety of vegetables and legumes. Everyone will be able to choose from the above dishes the one they like best.

Delicious recipes for the winter

Many housewives believe that home conditions are extremely favorable for creating all kinds of preparations: all the devices are at hand, and the opportunity for creativity in the form of experimenting with ingredients opens up.

You can make each of the recipes below to find the one that suits you best.

Beans in tomato sauce

Homemade tomato sauce will decorate the appearance of the dish and add additional beneficial properties. Especially if you use your own grown vegetables.

Ingredients for preservation:

1 kilogram of beans of any variety;
500 grams of onion;
1 small carrot;
half a glass of sunflower oil;
5 kilograms of tomatoes;
salt, sugar, spices at least 1 teaspoon each.

Soak the beans for 5 hours, then cook. Under no circumstances should they be overcooked.
Prepare fried onions and carrots. Fry until golden brown.
You need to make sure that there is no peel left on each tomato. To do this, cut the tomatoes into small pieces or grind them in a blender.
Transfer the roast to a pan, add oil and add tomatoes. Stir and heat for 20 minutes.
Immerse the beans in the resulting mass, add salt and sugar. Bring to a boil and transfer to pasteurized containers.
Slowly cool the workpiece under a woolen blanket. This way it will cool evenly.

In tomato paste

This recipe saves time because you don't need to prepare the sauce, and you can use regular tomato paste from the supermarket.

1 kilogram of beans;
1 small package of tomato paste;
300 grams of carrots;
3 small onions;
4 tablespoons vegetable oil;
2 tablespoons each of salt and sugar;
5 liters of spring or boiled water;
5 teaspoons ground pepper.

Boil the washed beans with sugar and salt.
Prepare the carrot and onion fry, then pour in the water from the beans and the contents of the jar of tomato paste. After boiling, heat for another 15 minutes.
Add beans and oil. Boil, heat for another 15 minutes. Add spices, if desired.
Close the lids and put the inverted jars in the cellar.

Canned white beans

The beans in this snack retain all the important nutrients.

1 kilogram of white beans;
3 teaspoons salt;
2 teaspoons granulated sugar;
1 small pod of hot pepper;
10 pieces of allspice;
3 kilograms of tomatoes;
2 pieces bay leaves.

The soaked beans should be cooked but not overcooked. Cook on low heat along with 3 teaspoons salt and 2 teaspoons sugar. When cooked, transfer the beans to a colander.
Blanch the tomatoes and grind them with a meat grinder or blender.
Place white beans and tomato puree in a large bowl. Add spices, 1 teaspoon of salt. Heat for 30 minutes, a few minutes before the boil starts, throw the bay leaf into the pan.
The appetizer is ready. Now it needs to be put into containers and left until winter.

Red

A simple recipe for making canned red beans in your own juice.

1 kilogram of red beans;
3 tablespoons of 9 percent vinegar;
500 grams of onion;
half a glass of sunflower oil;
500 grams of carrots;
3 teaspoons coarse salt;
2 teaspoons granulated sugar;
other spices as desired.

Soak the beans for 12 hours. Change the water several times during this procedure. Boil them with salt and sugar.
Fry onion rings with carrot slices in a frying pan for 10 minutes. Add just a little oil.
Pour out the remaining oil and pour over the beans. Heat for another 10 minutes after reaching a boil. 2 minutes before the end of cooking, add spices if desired.
Place the food in jars and roll up thoroughly. Ready!

Snack with added vegetables

Pickling beans with vegetables is one of the most delicious appetizers on the everyday dinner table or at holiday gatherings.

The following components should be prepared:

5 kilograms of boiled beans of any kind;
500 grams of fresh bell pepper;
50 grams of fresh eggplants;
1 kilogram of tomatoes;
1 glass of sunflower oil;
3 tablespoons salt;
1 tablespoon sugar;
1 tablespoon of 9 percent vinegar;
thyme, paprika, garlic to taste.

Cook the legumes according to the usual method with soaking.
Chop the tomatoes without peeling and place in a saucepan, add salt, sugar and oil. Heat for 20 minutes.
Add the prepared beans, and then the eggplant cubes. This is followed by another 15 minutes of cooking on medium stove power.
Chop the bell pepper into strips and add it to the mixture with vinegar. Boil. At the end, add spices as desired.
The savory preserve is ready! All that remains is to place it in pasteurized jars and screw the lids tightly.

Composition and calorie content of beans

Beans are 40% protein. They are rich in valuable fiber, starch, healthy carbohydrates and vegetable fats. The culture contains many microelements beneficial to the body. Among them are calcium and iron, potassium and magnesium, sulfur and phosphorus. Moreover, beans are a source of numerous vitamins. The high content of group B, C, PP, provitamin A is complemented by pectins and healthy organic matter. A real storehouse of useful and valuable substances.

Despite their high nutritional value, the calorie content of beans is low. Only 57 kcal.

Fava beans

Fava beans are also referred to as broad beans. It is an integral part of many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes, such as the popular Egyptian honey dish, or the Sicilian fennel-infused macco soup. You can find it fresh in season, or canned and dried all year round. Fresh favas have a pleasant green color and herbal flavor, while canned and dried varieties have a more nutty flavor.

Beans: beneficial properties

The benefits of beans for human health have been fully proven. There is one peculiarity though. All valuable substances contained in this culture work for the benefit of humans only after heat treatment. And raw dried beans are dangerous for the body because they contain a toxin. It can even cause serious poisoning of the food system.

Why are beans so useful, and what benefits do they bring to the body?

Reducing cholesterol. Beans contain a significant amount of dietary fiber, which can quickly reduce blood cholesterol levels.
Diabetes. The presence of molybdenum in the culture perfectly stabilizes blood sugar. In addition, it allows you to neutralize any harmful preservatives.
Stimulation of the gastrointestinal tract. Valuable amino acids, which are included in beans in the quantities required for humans, are perfectly absorbed by the body. The presence of fiber allows you to normalize the activity of the digestive tract.
Blood purification. Beans are an excellent source of folic acid and potassium, so they are a fairly effective medicinal food. Regular consumption of fruits promotes excellent blood purification. At the same time, the body becomes more resistant to various infections.
The cardiovascular system only benefits from the use of this crop. B vitamins significantly strengthen the blood supply and reduce the risk of heart disease.
Dietary purpose. Eating beans allows you to get rid of hunger for a long time. That is why the fruits are recommended in numerous diets. And women who dream of losing a few kilograms certainly introduce the dish into their diet.
Beauty. The rich vitamin content of beans has a positive effect on hair. They gain thickness and become strong. There is a change in the nails, which shine with health and stop breaking. The vitamins contained in beans also take care of the skin. It has been noticed that their regular use prolongs the youth of the skin and eliminates the appearance of early wrinkles.
Beans are also good for joints.

Use

Leading nutritionists advise consuming 100–150 g of beans daily (if there are no contraindications). After two to three weeks, positive results will become noticeable. During this time, cholesterol levels decrease significantly.

Culture is rightfully considered an indispensable component of dietary nutrition and a vegetarian diet. It has been suggested that beans even stop the random growth of cancer cells. However, this has not been clinically confirmed, so you should not place high hopes on the vegetable.

Harvesting beans for the winter

The beans are harvested in their green form, most often 8–12 days after ovary. The collected pods very quickly lose their original appearance, and, accordingly, their quality. Therefore, the collected product must be immediately used in cooking or in preparations for the winter. They are suitable for drying, freezing and canning.

Drying beans

To dry, the freshly harvested product must be sorted, discarding damaged and limp pods, cutting off the ends and removing coarse fiber along the seam. The washed pods should be cut into small pieces (2–3 cm) and blanched in boiling water for 4 minutes. To cool and remove excess moisture, they are laid out on a cloth. After this, the prepared product must be placed in the oven to dry for at least 5 hours, remembering to stir periodically.

Harvesting peeled beans

If the beans are harvested in the fall, when the pods have dried and become dark in color, the crop is cut, tied into sheaves and hung to dry under a canopy. This drying should last 7–10 days. After this, the grains are cleaned and stored in fabric bags exclusively in a dry room.

Freezing

Young beans should be removed from the leaves. They are blanched in boiling water for a couple of minutes. After this, the beans should cool and dry. Store the finished product in bags or plastic containers in the freezer.

Frozen pods

You can freeze not only peeled beans, but also the pods. To do this, they are prepared - the ends are cut off and the “thread” is removed at the junction. Be sure to blanch in boiling water for three minutes. Cooled and dried pods should be packaged and frozen. In this state, the beans are perfectly preserved for 8 months to a year.

Canning beans

For canning, use only fresh beans, preferably only harvested ones. The juicy green pods containing the newly formed beans are collected.

The pods, peeled from the tops, must be washed, wait until the water has completely drained from them, and dip them in boiling salted water so that they soften slightly. Place in jars, topped with chopped parsley or dill. Pour in hot (80–90 degrees) water, salted to taste. Screw the jars tightly and place in a large bowl with water heated to 75–85 degrees, sterilize for 70–90 minutes.

The famous phrase “sitting on beans” often symbolizes poverty. However, there is nothing wrong with the bean menu. On the contrary, this valuable crop can significantly improve health if properly processed and increase the body’s resistance to various viral infections.

How to store beans in winter?

The main danger when storing beans in winter is:

damage by bean weevil, whose larvae end up inside the bean in the summer months;
the development of mold fungi and rot when moisture gets into containers with seeds.

When beans prepared for the winter are well dried and scattered in glass jars with tight-fitting lids, in a cool, dry room the risk of rotting and spoilage of the beans is greatly reduced.

But pest bugs are one of the most serious problems. When there is a massive attack by this pest, several dozen larvae develop inside one pod in the summer, which, finding the seed, penetrate inside and develop, feeding on the beans and making tunnels in it. By the time of pupation, there may be practically no pulp left under the seed shell. As a result, the beans lose not only their germination capacity, but also all their nutritional and taste qualities.

Traces of the presence of the pest are clearly visible through the seed skin, and sometimes round holes are visible on the surface - this is the exit point for adult beetles. Under favorable conditions, the weevil can produce up to four generations per season and cause serious damage to the gardener.

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Beetle larvae trapped in cans of beans remain viable at temperatures ranging from 10 to 48 °C. And a tight lid will not save beans intended for winter storage from spoilage, unless more effective measures are taken.

If beans on the site are grown exclusively for grain production, and the green pods are not eaten, then it is reasonable to use insecticides to combat bean weevil. This event, carried out at the flowering stage or in the first days of bean formation, will effectively protect the future harvest.

Also, you should not wait for the moment when the ripened beans begin to open spontaneously, which makes it easier for female caryopses ready to lay eggs to reach the seeds. Beans are prepared for the winter only in strong pods. And if grains fall to the ground, you should not collect material that may be infected with a pest.

At home, before drying beans, obviously unsuitable beans and seeds are removed. And then, to destroy the larvae, the shelled beans are heated in an oven or dryer at a temperature of 50–55 °C. In 20–30 minutes, the pest in the larval stage under such conditions is destroyed. If the temperature is higher, the seeds will lose their viability, but when using beans only for food purposes, you can play it safe without harming the taste of the grain.

At temperatures below 10 °C, the larvae also do not develop, which means that one way to store beans in winter is in a household refrigerator or in unheated dry rooms where there is ventilation:

Dried beans, disinfected at high temperatures or intended for storage in the refrigerator, are poured into glass jars and tightly closed.
To store beans in winter at sub-zero temperatures, for example, on the balcony of a city apartment, it is better to use thick canvas bags, but protect the seeds from getting wet.

An unpeeled clove of garlic and dry fennel and dill seeds will help repel pests from beans. The shelf life of bean grains, depending on the variety, ranges from 4 to 12 months.