Btw, just wanted to come back to my question about keeping beans in the refrigerator.
I took a variety of different beans and lentils (4 different types), put them in a tall pop-top container, filled with water to the brim, sealed it, and stuck it in the back. I left it there for about 4 weeks. Today I took out the container, smelled it (no sign of fermentation), drained it, then checked the beans. Some had softened a bit, but others still felt too firm to eat. I put them in a pot of boiling water (to about 1" above the surface of the beans) and let it go on a low boil for about 12~15 minutes. The small lentils were soft at about 8~10 minutes and the rest were edible-soft at about 15 minutes. Definitely better than cooking for over an hour!
Of course, a
pressure cooker would do the same thing without having to soak. I'm going to get one of those. Any recommendations on a model?