Cooking dried beans

Cooked and skinned Lima Beans

General guidelines to cooking beans

Soak beans in water overnight.
Soaking water should come up to at least 3in above beans. Beans will swell and soak up a lot of water.
Soak beans in refrigerator to prevent it from fermenting.
Pour away soaking water.
Rinse beans until water runs clear.
Fill pot with fresh water and bring beans to a boil and then simmer for about 1 hour (depending on type of bean).
Turn off the flame and keep the beans covered for the next 1-2 hours until they become tender.

Note: 
Kidney beans (especially the red ones) should be brought to a boil (100 degC) for a minimum of 10 minutes so as to deactivate the toxic compound found in them.
Lima beans contain cyanogenic glucosides and thus should never be eaten raw.


References for cooking dried beans

1. Chez Bettay - Vegan Basics
2. What's cooking America.net