How can I choose the best Haricot beans?

The term "Haricot Beans" may apply to a number of small white dried beans in the family phaseolus , all of which are easy to cook and can be replaced in recipes. Haricot's best beans have a consistent color, texture and size. They lack wrinkles or color, have an oval or the shape of the kidneys and are white to cream in color, rather than light brown. Fresh haricots can be sold in their shells, which are brown and relatively dry at the time of harvest, but they should never be moldy.

Haricot beans come in three main types: large kidney -shaped beans also called Cannellini or Fagioli beans; Medium -sized oval samples known as large northern beans; And small round beans about the size of peas called Navy, Boston Beans or Pearl Haricots. All these beans are fast cooking and soften about an hour. They also have light colored and fine leather, tend to keep their shape after cooking and produce a mild, walnut tasteA bowl. Haricots tend to take the taste of other foods with which they cook. Some of these three types can be replaced by others in soups, roasted beans or salads, as well as traditional European meals such as E Fagioli or Raguts.

When choosing dried Haricot beans, look for samples that have all the same general size and shape, because very large beans will cook more slowly than small in the same pot and potentially produce crunchy food. Avoid broken or deformed beans, which are also unlikely to cook well. Good beans Haricot should have unpacked skin without white to cream without dark or chalk spots, consistent size and shape and should contain little to no rocks or pieces of dirt. Darker or wrinkled beans can be old and cook can take a very long time even if before cooking before cooking.

you can set upKat with fresh beans on the farmers' market or in specialties Groobchody Cery. They can be sold freely or still in their pods, which should be paper and tanned to light brown. Avoid beans in pods with dark mold spots on them or on which fuzzy fungi grows, as the mold on the outside can affect the quality of the seeds inside. The beans themselves should look a lot like their dried cousins, but they will be larger and with more translucent skin. Fresh beans cook faster than a dried variety, but can be used in the same types of recipes.