Can I eat this - soaked chickpeas edition.

August 31, 2017 2:58 PM

Two nights ago I put a bag of dried chickpeas in some cold tapwater to soak overnight. Yesterday morning I woke up with a stomach bug and knew I wasn't going to be able to cook so I put them in the fridge. So: 48 hours soaking, first 12 non-refrigerated, last 36 refrigerated. I didn't think to change the water. Would you cook them and eat them tonight? Internet search gives mixed answers so I'm coming to you.
posted by mireille to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

I would eat them but not if I already had a stomach bug.
posted by raccoon409 at 3:02 PM on August 31, 2017 [3 favorites]

We sometimes soak beans out on the counter for 48 hours if we forget about them. I'd eat them.
posted by number9dream at 3:47 PM on August 31, 2017

I did this and got food poisoning.
posted by freshwater at 4:08 PM on August 31, 2017

I think I would eat them, but we're probably talking less than a dollar here, so if you're worried and you're the sort of person who would be anxious eating them, toss.
posted by FencingGal at 4:14 PM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Personally, I'd look at them and give them the eye and smell tests, and, if they look okay, then I'd just boil them or cook them in a way to kill anything and eat them. I've never soaked chickpeas this long that I can recall, but I do always tend to soak them longer than I should because I've had experiences where they were still too tough.
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:53 PM on August 31, 2017

Response by poster: Okay thanks, all. I think I'll be cautious because of the recent stomach bug but since I hate waste I'll cook them up to freeze for occasional dog treats - the internet is at least consistent on chickpeas being quite good for them!
posted by mireille at 5:06 PM on August 31, 2017

If you're concerned about eating them yourself, I wouldn't give them to your dog. Wouldn't potentially spoiled chick peas be bad for your dog?
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 5:18 PM on August 31, 2017 [5 favorites]

Chickpeas are seeds. They won't spoil by being soaked for a couple days, but they are probably on their way to sprouting. You can eat them just fine, though they might taste a little different(and still good!).
posted by rockindata at 7:36 PM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

I regularly soak at room temperature for 24 hours. So this sounds entirely ok to me and I would eat.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 9:09 PM on August 31, 2017

I regularly make sprouted chickpea hummos, which starts as 24 hours in water and then a day or two in a jar at room temperature with sporadic rinsing to add more water. Then I make hummos out of it without cooking the chickpeas.
posted by girl Mark at 11:17 PM on August 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Of course people get food poisoning from commercially available bean sprouts but I'd treat this like any home sprouting situation.
posted by girl Mark at 11:18 PM on August 31, 2017

By the way sprouted chickpeas are delicious- you may have had them at salad bars or health food store concoctions- but they really don't look drastically different than cooked chickpeas- it takes longer for them to grow actual roots and plant bits than other seeds seem to.
posted by girl Mark at 11:21 PM on August 31, 2017