Food/prepper experiment. Trying to cook 10+ year old black beans. Gonna try two hours under pressure in the instant pot and see if they’ll soften up.
I had a Sam’s Club membership years ago when I got into prepping. Also didn’t have kids at the time so we had money to spare. We bought a bunch of stuff including however many pounds of black beans it takes to fill a 3 1/2 gallon bucket.
I’ve also got a 3 1/2 gallon bucket of salt somewhere. It would have to be chipped/scraped off of it and run through the coffee bean grinder now as it’s hard as a rock. Salt doesn’t really go bad though.
I had forgotten about the baking soda trick and the IP just pressurized so it’s too late.
https://readysquirrel.com/9-ways-to-cook-old-dried-beans/
Reading the comments on one blog post about the old bean subject and some people wondered about nutrition level. All I can say to that is that a few years ago, I tossed some white beans out in the yard that were purchased at the same time as the black beans and they sprouted. I’d venture to say that if they were still viable as seed, they probably still had nutrition. I’ll have to try tossing some of these black beans on the ground and see if they’ll sprout.
Maybe your bucket-o-salt can become a salt lick for your critters?
Good luck with your beans!