Last night, Madeleine and I created a butternut squash-garbanzo-kale/tatsoi soup that reminds me of your second soup in these pictures. I would have used white beans had they been soaked, but we used a large can of chick peas in the interest of time. The base was vegan, with a fair amount of onions. Paprika, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, cumin, pepper…mellow flavor but certainly not boring.

I really came up with the pre-soaking accidentally when I had soaked beans all day but then wasn’t ready to use them. I drained them and put them in the fridge. These were cannellini beans. It worked so well- that is in reducing cooking time for the soup I put them in- that I tried it again with some black beans. Now I try to have pre-soaked beans on hand at least once a week. I probably wouldn’t let them stay in the fridge for longer than a couple of days.

As far as your beans turning to mush, it may be that your beans are too old and some take longer to cook than others so the whole batch gets overcooked. Getting dried beans from the bulk section ensures fresher beans.

You may also not have enough water and thus are getting uneven cooking. Cooking time depends on the type of bean of course, but I would say, having pre-soaked the beans don’t take for granted a long cooking time. After 20 mins check the progress, is there still 2-3 inches of water above the beans (if not just add more) and are they getting cooked? Continue to check them, pick one out and blow across it, does the skin burst and peel back, if so you are getting close. Taste a few and see if they are chalky. When you pull one out, blow on it and if it splits open and the inside in tender and moist then they are done. Also, beans need salt but not when cooking. Just cook them in plain water, or sometimes for soup you cook them straight in the broth. Remember to keep them at a low simmer after the initial boil and to stir. Honestly I’m not quite clear about covering or not, so I usually keep a lid on partially.

Most of what I’ve learned about beans is from the following: Alice Waters the Art of Simple Food, Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, and Rick Bayless’ Mexican Kitchen (and my mom!).
Read what you will but let experience and good monitoring tell you what works. Good luck!

I must admit that I almost always use canned beans, because 1)I forget to soak dry beans well enough in advance, and 2) my dried beans turn into mush when I cook them. Thanks for solving the soaking issue for me. Any suggestions to avoid bean porridge?