Are these beans safe to cook and eat?
November 25, 2019 1:06 PM Subscribe
I bought about a pound of beautiful Scarlet Runner Beans at the Farmer's Market and thought they were dry, so I put them in a jar. A week later we noticed the beans were starting to grow fuzzy mold. Turns out the beans had just been shelled and were not dry at all when purchased, my bad! I threw away the worst-looking ones, and decided to put the rest in the dehydrator overnight where they became hard and small with no visible mold. I keep hesitating to cook them now. Are these beans safe to cook and eat?
My rule for these situations is usually: How much did the beans cost? Would you pay that much not to have food poisoning? If so, bin them.
posted by penguin pie at 1:26 PM on November 25, 2019 [8 favorites]
posted by penguin pie at 1:26 PM on November 25, 2019 [8 favorites]
Nopenopenopenope
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 1:37 PM on November 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 1:37 PM on November 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
I commend you for considering this, considering how many people I've seen here throw out totally fine food.
I will say I've eaten all kinds of stuff people here say is poison and been fine, but the only real reasons to eat these I can see are :
A) Not doing so would cause notable hardship and inconvenience (often not considered by respondents here but very real at times for many of us)
or
B) You want to learn more about how moldy hardshell beans can be eaten safely and you are willing to risk some discomfort to do so.
Many kinds of mold are totally fine; I'll remind the audience that every day we all eat mold spores and also inhale them, by the thousands. I personally think there's a decent chance everything's fine, but without more info I'd probably only eat one bite the first day and then wait 24 hours. Also you can do some research on the mold characteristics. Some colors and growth habits are bigger red flags than others. Also there's a big difference between a hazy light cloud and solid mats, did you rinse before dehydrating, etc etc.
If you eat the beans please let me know how it goes!
posted by SaltySalticid at 2:02 PM on November 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
I will say I've eaten all kinds of stuff people here say is poison and been fine, but the only real reasons to eat these I can see are :
A) Not doing so would cause notable hardship and inconvenience (often not considered by respondents here but very real at times for many of us)
or
B) You want to learn more about how moldy hardshell beans can be eaten safely and you are willing to risk some discomfort to do so.
Many kinds of mold are totally fine; I'll remind the audience that every day we all eat mold spores and also inhale them, by the thousands. I personally think there's a decent chance everything's fine, but without more info I'd probably only eat one bite the first day and then wait 24 hours. Also you can do some research on the mold characteristics. Some colors and growth habits are bigger red flags than others. Also there's a big difference between a hazy light cloud and solid mats, did you rinse before dehydrating, etc etc.
If you eat the beans please let me know how it goes!
posted by SaltySalticid at 2:02 PM on November 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
Something to consider is that many things that do not show visible mold will have an awful mold undertone taste to them, which renders them inedible to me.
posted by effluvia at 2:53 PM on November 25, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by effluvia at 2:53 PM on November 25, 2019 [5 favorites]
No, and I am a bean fanatic.
posted by Pretty Good Talker at 3:13 PM on November 25, 2019
posted by Pretty Good Talker at 3:13 PM on November 25, 2019
I think this is actually how tempeh is started? But tempeh has a specific fungus culture that makes it tempeh not moldy beans, so... I still wouldn't eat 'em.
Possibly they are now magic beans, so you should definitely toss them into a forest and keep an eye on what grows.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 3:17 PM on November 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
Possibly they are now magic beans, so you should definitely toss them into a forest and keep an eye on what grows.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 3:17 PM on November 25, 2019 [4 favorites]
I'm usually team Eat That, but mold, Nope.
posted by theora55 at 3:18 PM on November 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 3:18 PM on November 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Something to consider is that many things that do not show visible mold will have an awful mold undertone taste to them, which renders them inedible to me.
Yes, the visible mold is often the fruiting body of the fungus, in which case the remainder has been growing all along under the surface. I eat nearly everything that AskMe says "no" to, but would not eat these beans because I think there's a good chance they will taste like dirt.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:01 PM on November 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
Yes, the visible mold is often the fruiting body of the fungus, in which case the remainder has been growing all along under the surface. I eat nearly everything that AskMe says "no" to, but would not eat these beans because I think there's a good chance they will taste like dirt.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:01 PM on November 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
Agree they probably won’t taste great. Plant them in your garden in the spring, it’s a beautiful reddish orange flowering vine. And enjoy next year’s harvest.
posted by Vindaloo at 5:38 AM on November 26, 2019
posted by Vindaloo at 5:38 AM on November 26, 2019
Response by poster: Well that was more unanimous than I expected. I am the last person who would perform an experiment for AskMeCanIEat on my guts, so have opted to toss most of the beans and plant some of them.
posted by oxisos at 11:15 AM on November 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by oxisos at 11:15 AM on November 26, 2019 [3 favorites]
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I'd say toss 'em.
posted by nirblegee at 1:22 PM on November 25, 2019 [10 favorites]