Red Kidney Beans

These are red-coloured, 1/2 inch long beans (1 cm) shaped slightly like a kidney (they are actually more maroon coloured than red.) Their skin colour is solid with no markings. They cook up to a full-flavoured, smooth texture.

There are also White Kidney Beans, which have a milder flavour. The white ones are also known as Cannellini Beans.

You can buy them canned, or dried. Rinse canned ones in a colander, then proceed with your recipe.

For dried Red Kidney Beans, simmer in a pot of water 3 hours on stove if not soaked overnight; if soaked, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

For pressure-cooking, soak overnight first for 12 hours, and then cook for 20 minutes.

If you are making chili, and are thinking of cooking the dried beans right in the chili, don't. Always cook them first, as the acid from the tomatoes will keep the bean skins tough otherwise.Kidney Beans, White or Red, should never be eaten raw as they contain trace amounts of a poison that is destroyed by cooking.

Per 1 cup (170), boiled: 225 calories, 15g protein, 40g carbohydrate, .9g fat, 11.5g fibre, 5mg iron.

1 pound dried = 450g = 2 to 2 1/2 cups dried = 5 to 6 cups, boiled

1 cup of dried beans = approx 8 oz = approx 450g = approx 3 cups, boiled
1 cup cooked, drained = 170g = 6 oz
1 15oz/420g tin, drained = 1 1/2 cups, cooked, drained

Kidney beans are a New World food and were brought over to the Old World by the Spanish. The word "Kidney Bean" was first used in England in 1551, as people began needing to distinguish New World beans from those that had already pre-existed in Europe.

The name comes from its shape. Called "Red Peas" in the Caribbean.

Also called:

Provence Kidney Beans, Red Kidney Beans, White Kidney Beans

Baked Beans, Bush Beans, Chana Dal, Cowpeas, Dry Beans, Flageolet Beans, French Fillet Beans, Green Beans, Lima Beans, Mung Beans, Pole Beans, Runner Beans, Shelling Beans, Soybeans, Wax Beans

Peas