After years of tough or crunchy beans, I finally figured out the problem I used to cook with dried beans all the time with no issues. About 25 years ago, I moved across the country and suddenly, I couldn't seem to get beans to cook correctly anymore. I thought maybe it was the change in altitude (I live at about 5500 ft. elevation), but longer cooking didn't make a difference. I always made sure not to cook soaked beans with salt or anything acidic. I tried using a pressure cooker. Nope. Tried using a Crock Pot. Nope. Eventually, I gave up and just switched to using canned beans in my recipes. I was reading an article about things that can affect cooking in general, and one of them was the hardness of the water. I had an epiphany. The water is quite hard and mineral-rich where I live. Hmmmm. What to do? After several experiments with different combinations of tap water mixed with distilled water, I tried soaking the beans in 1/3 tap water and 2/3 distilled water, and then using only distilled water for cooking. It worked! It has also made a difference in cooking barley, split peas, and lentils. I just wish I had figured this out sooner. Distilled water FTW! ETA: Yes, adding baking soda was also one of the things I tried that made no difference. I also tried adding a strip of kombu and that didn't do anything, either.