Soak
the 1/4 cup [black] beans in 1 cup of water for 8 hours.
Or
heat the water, add in the beans, bring back to a boil. Turn off heat and soak
for one hour.? Then rinse the beans in a
fine mesh colander.?
Return
to pot and add another cup of water. Cook on low heat for about an hour. Check
in on them and if they need more water, add from time to time.
I strongly recommend using your first suggestion, and not your second suggestion.? Both will result in softened beans, reducing the cooking time needed.? Only the first one (NO heat, long soak) will allow the phytase enzymes to be released to work resulting in the release of minerals from the phytate proteins.? Important.
Both the long, whole grain rice and the wild rice should also be soaked and drained before cooking.
And I suppose also the buckwheat groats (though in that case, heating them in a pan before adding water would be problematic?).
By the way, it is important NOT to use the soaking water for cooking.? But your plants will love it!
Once again, it is not clear if you mean FRESH cranberries, or dried cranberries, and, if dried, are these sweetened.
lovely recipes!!
Rahel
Jerusalem