Instant Pot Black Beans

Beans on the low histamine diet are controversial. Let’s start there.

Some sites list them as histamine liberators and therefore discourage eating them. The SIGHI list has them at a rating of 2, and says that ‘Some tolerated exceptions are possible in some cases,’ whatever that means.
And most commonly, beans come in a can, with canned food being off limits for its ability to accumulate histamine. Those I don’t eat.

All my tolerated beans start as dry in a bag, then soak and are pressure cooked before being frozen in individual portions. I’ve found that these never set me off and are a true safe food. They’re also thankfully a cheap protein source, and more sustainable than animal proteins.

You’ll need:
-1 cup dry black beans (Goya is always a quality bet, or loose from a bulk store)
-5 cups of water for cooking
-5 cups of water for soaking
-Instant pot
-Colander or strainer
-Containers for freezing

1. Soak your dry black beans in enough water to cover them by three inches, either overnight or for at least 6 hours. I’ll often throw them in water at breakfast, and they’re ready for cooking by dinner. It’s good to note that soaking black beans turns the water black and you’ll want to do this in something like a steel cooking pot or bowl, not something stainable and precious.
2. After soaking, dump your black beans into a colander and drain. Pick out any beans that look shriveled or weird.
3. Put your strained beans in the instant pot. Cover them with 5 cups of water. You might be tempted to use less water and more beans – don’t. This ratio is needed for proper cooking. Depending on the size of your instant pot, this means that you might be limited to cooking just one cup of beans at a time. Don’t overfill the pot! This makes a huge foamy mess.
4. Close the lid on the instant pot and set it to pressure cook on high for 28 minutes. Then, allow the pressure to naturally release.
5. Open the pot and test the beans for doneness. They should be quite soft. If for some reason your beans are crunchy, don’t eat them. Close the pot and pressure cook for another 10 minutes. Crunchy beans = digestive hell
6. Immediately decant the beans into your freezing containers. I like to use jam jar sized mason jars for individual portions. Add a small amount of the bean liquid to the container to keep them from drying out when you reheat.
   
   
   Additional Tips:
   -The time for cooking applies to black beans, which are a softer bean. If you try this with something like a navy bean or great northern bean, that will take significantly longer.
   -I’ve never experienced this, but have read that using hard water with high mineral content to cook the beans can alter results. If you live in a place with hard water, consider using filtered or extending your cook time.
   -Once thawed from frozen, these mash up nicely with whatever spices and oil you can tolerate as a dip.