The grocery store beans cooked up pretty nice. The WM beans had lots of beans split while soaking and had lots of loose bean skins and cooked up poorly compared to the grocery beans.

Do you think great northern beans come in different grades and they sell cheaper beans to WM? None of the beans seemed older than the other. They both cooked within the same time.

I use those beans a lot.

I just got a bag of pinto beans and it states clearly on the bag that they are #1 grade, but the Kroger brand navy beans don't show any grade anywhere. I guess that's something to keep in mind and look out for; especially if you are adding the beans to a salad and you want them whole.

Evedently, the grade of the beans doesn't have to be included on the packaging. Some things to look for if beans aren't graded on the package:

Brightness of color — Beans, peas, and lentils
should have a bright uniform color. Loss of color
usually indicates long storage, lack of freshness,
and a product that will take longer to cook. Eating
quality, however, is not affected.

Uniformity of size — Look for beans, peas, or
lentils of uniform size. Mixed sizes will result in
uneven cooking, since smaller beans cook faster
than larger ones.

Visible defects — Cracked seed coats, foreign
material, and pinholes caused by insect damage
are signs of a low quality product.

-Grainlady

o j

Beans have really gone up a lot. Our grocery store used to have lentils for .75 cents a pound. Now they are $1.19.