I've just brought most of my plants in for winter. They're still producing fruit. A couple of the plants are actually producing a lot of fruit. Right now I have an abundance of Carolina reapers. There's always a chance for cross-pollination among peppers, so you never entirely know if they're going to be as strong as they could be. One of my "Carolina reaper" plants (I planted like six of them) is definitely some kind of jalapeño cross. I don't have any straight jalapeños, so I'm thinking that it probably crossed with the emerald fire peppers. Or, it's possible that the nursery mixed up the labels and it's something entirely different! Either way, these do actually look like Carolina reapers. In which case, eight of them for a single batch of pinto beans is A LOT.
Pepper Plants
Given the way my place and the surrounding area smells right now? I'm going to go with yes, yes they are indeed Carolina reapers. And yes, these pinto beans are incredibly spicy. Carolina reapers are the second hottest pepper in the world (second only to Pepper X, which just surpassed Guinness World Records for the hottest pepper in October 2023 and is not currently commercially available). You can, obviously, substitute less scaldingly hot peppers. And also not add in eight of them. Which I really only did because six of them were ripe and two slightly less ripe ones fell off of the plant during transport in from the outside!
Also, yes, peppers can be brought indoors during the winter. A lot of people might grow them as annuals, but pepper plants are actually perennials and will continue to come back in the spring. I have a couple of peppers that I've had for years. They tend to come back larger and bearing more fruit the next year. Peppers are also fruit. They might not look like an apple or a watermelon. But they are the seed-bearing part that comes from the flowering part of the plant. Peppers are a fruit. Albeit a very spicy fruit at times.
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Variations of Slow Cooker Pinto Beans
I'm a big fan of crock pot beans. They're incredibly simple to make. Just add all of the ingredients and hit low for 6-8 hours. The cooking time will vary slightly based on how old your beans are. If they've been sitting in your pantry for longer than you can remember, you're probably on the eight hour time frame more than the six hour. Although, you're slow cooking beans. It'll be okay!
If you overcook them, just mash them and call it no-fry refried beans. Or, just do that, anyway. Who doesn't like refried beans?? I'll usually vary whether I break out the potato masher based on what I'm going to do with them. I think that I'm going to leave this batch whole because we don't need to mash the Carolina reapers into them any more than we already have (probably an 4/5 on the heat scale and maybe the hottest beans that I've ever had). But maybe I'll mash the next batch.
A note from my future self: I did make no-fry refried beans out of the next batch. And I did still use Carolina reapers! Although, I used TWO of them, instead of eight. Although this first batch is incredibly delicious and I highly recommend it, it isn't something that I'd feed most house guests. I do actually have to warn people not to eat some things at my place. Because you can't say that I didn't warn you! Just substitute the peppers. Don't like onions are garlic? Just substitute those, too. Or don't use them. You could literally just put beans, water, and salt. You know what, don't want to use water? No problem. You can use broth.
Add the beans and all of the other ingredients to a crock pot with the water.
Cook on low for 8 hours, or until the desired consistency is reached. I like to start the beans in the morning and then come back to then after work or before bed to wake up to freshly cooked beans.The beans should retain their shape during the cooking process (and not start to break apart), but should be soft enough to pinch between your fingers or a fork. It's much like the consistency of a baked potato, where you could theoretically turn it into mashed potatoes, but it also stands on its own.There may still be some residual water left in the crock pot after 8 hours. If the beans aren't fully cooked, simply continue to cook until the water cooks in and the beans are the right tenderness. If the beans are fully cooked, you can drain the water or quickly simmer the remainder of it out on the stove. Depending on how old your beans are, they may require slightly different amounts of water to re-hydrate. Older beans will take more water and time, while fresher beans will cook in less time with less water.
Remove the bay before serving or storing.The bay leaves are for flavor and not everyone wants to eat an entire leaf! So, take note of how many you put in and make sure to remove them after cooking. You can pull them out later. But, if you refrigerate the beans, they'll solidify more when chilled and the bay leaves will be harder to find. It's easier to do this while they're still warm and you can easily sift through them!
If you want to make no-fry refried beans or more of a bean dip, remove the bay leaves and mash with a potato masher. You can also pulse in a food processor or purée entirely.This process might require more water. So, if you do have additional water left in the crock pot after cooking, you may want to reserve it and add back in if necessary to create a smoother no-fry refried bean consistency.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
For more information about making dried beans in a crock pot, I have an entire article on The Fundamentals of Slow Cooker Black Beans. Which has additional tips and tricks along with the rationale for not pre-soaking or rinsing beans and bean substitutions if you want to cook with pinto or other bean varieties.
With pinto beans, they're a little bit softer than black beans. This means that they can cook in a little bit less time and with potentially less water than black beans (although this can vary wildly based on how long your beans have been drying). If your crock pot has multiple time settings, you can likely get away with 6 hours (mine does not; it's 4 or 8 hours, so I do 8 hours, which also makes them soft enough to mash with ease, if that's your end goal as well).
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