How do I substitute rehydrated garbanzo beans for garbanzo beans from a can? [duplicate]

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How should I prepare dried chickpeas?

When making food like falafel and hummus, recipes typically ask for canned garbanzo beans (also known as chickpeas). I have on hand a bag of dried garbanzo beans. In the past I have tried to soak these beans over night yet they still never seem to come to the same soft/creamy consistancy that the beans in the cans have.

What steps must I take to rehydrate these beans so that they are similar enough in texture to the canned beans so that I can use the rehydrated beans in its place for the recipes I have?

Additionally, are there any other differences that should be noted between rehydrated garbanzo beans and canned garbanzo beans?

Answer 1

I'd assumed the beans were cooked, not just soaked. Assuming they are cooked and not just soaked, the difference in taste could be due to canned beans' higher sodium content. Salt preference differs wildly across individuals and even across time for the same individual. There is a rich literature on this, including (sorry new user, so had to remove the URLs): http://www.ijpp.com/vol49_1/99_102.pdf.

It may be the case that you have a high salt preference. In that case, just add some extra salt to your hummus from dried beans.

Opinions on the quality of hummus from canned vs. dried garbanzo beans are a personal matter, but note that some (myself included) prefer the latter.

There are, in fact, differences in the hummus from dried vs canned beans, nutrition being one: http://humus101.com/EN/2007/03/28/hummus-nutritional-value-dried-vs-canned-chickpeas/.