CAN I eat it: canned garbanzo beans edition

March 7, 2017 1:46 PM

I opened a can of garbanzo beans and there are different colors of beans in there. I'm used to seeing just the creamy pinkish colored ones only. Is it okay to eat these?

I opened a can of garbanzo beans (part of tonight's dinner, will be simmered with other stuff in a pot for 20 minutes) and there are different colors of beans in there. I'm used to seeing just the creamy pinkish colored ones only. Is it okay to eat these? From what I can tell online, there may be dark chocolatey brown varieties of chickpeas? But I also see a reference to dark brown equaling The Presence of Insects, or something. I peeled and smooshed one of the dark brown ones, and it looks and smells, no insects inside. The can smells OK, was not bulging or in any way malformed.

Should I eat these? Can I eat these? I want to eat them. Or I s there some obvious sign I am missing that all is not well?

posted by pepper bird to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

Response by poster: That should be "looks and smells FINE."
posted by pepper bird at 1:51 PM on March 7, 2017

Best answer: It's likely that the sorting process just missed a few crappy beans. I used to cook huge quantities of garbanzo beans for hummus at a restaurant. If you missed sorting out the withered sad beans, they'd come out brown when cooked. They're not harmful. Pick out the dark ones if you don't want them spoiling the visuals.
posted by Ferreous at 2:02 PM on March 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Totally normal, totally fine to eat. Some brands are more multicoloured than others - don't know if that's related to quality or different varieties of bean, but they all taste the same.
posted by tinkletown at 2:04 PM on March 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'd most likely eat it, but hard to say without seeing it. Smooth even darker tone is ok, mottled or dappled color might be more concerning. I usually expect one or two beans to be a notable shade darker or lighter in any can of any bean.

I conjunction with some odd colors, any dents or dimples in the can would be a bad sign.
posted by SaltySalticid at 3:12 PM on March 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks, mefites! I ate them. It's weird I haven't seen this before -- I use a decent amount of canned garbanzos. Maybe the cheap canned store brand is secretly renowned for its uniformity of bean color.
posted by pepper bird at 4:56 AM on March 8, 2017