Every once in a while I catch a bit of the Antiques Roadshow, one of the very few PBS programs that I really enjoy. I love the artifacts dealing with early American history; not too interested in stuff from the 60s and 70s. Those things aren’t really that old and some of the art pieces are just really weird. And they never have any food on that show.
Well, almost never.
If you can find a link to watch the second hour of the Antiques Roadshow’s visit to Kansas City in 2003, you might get some glimpses of some canned foods from 1856. That was the year that the steamboat Arabia sank in the Missouri River. It was recovered in 1988, and the treasures it contained, all antiques now, comprise the Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City. If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit. Among the tens of thousands of items on display there are fruits and pickles beautifully preserved in blue glass jars. As I recall, a few of those jars were opened and tested to determine whether the 132-year-old food was safe to consume. It was.
You might recall an article I wrote earlier this year, "Terror in a Bucket." I wrote about my experiences using 55-year-old powdered milk stored in far less than ideal conditions. I incorporated it into several recipes and served them to my family. They’re all still alive, as are the dozen women who attended my class on powdered milk last week and who also got to do some taste testing. Even the octogenarian is still alive.
That milk was the oldest thing I’d ever eaten. Until now.
My friend Penny, the one who gave me the 55-year-old powdered milk, also has a lot of other really old food in her barn. Last week, when Penny came to the powdered milk class, she also brought me some old pinto beans. These were in a 4-gallon (I’m guessing at the actual volume) tin, dinged and dented and slightly rusted. It really looked kinda sketchy.
I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t stand it any longer. I just had to try those beans out.
They look a lot smaller than the pinto beans I have been storing. Maybe it can be attributed to farming practices improving. Maybe it’s because they’ve dried out and lost their moisture. I think it’s a combo of both.
Regardless, the beans looked really small and they’ve been stored in high heat—really adverse conditions—for over 55 years.
I half-heartedly followed the directions for canning beans. (When I say half-hearted, I mean that I didn’t expect a good outcome. I did follow directions for safe canning explicitly, other than using new lids.) Because this was a test batch and because I am opening and using the beans immediately, I didn’t use new canning lids. Why waste a perfectly good new lid on a jar that would be opened immediately? (Incidentally, all the jars sealed.) I needed to know whether the beans could eventually soften before proceeding any further and risking a waste of time and money. See, if the beans won’t even soften with pressure canning, there would be no reason to try preparing them in any other way, other than grinding them up into bean flour.
I opened the first jar of beans this morning, drained them, and poured them into a pan. I then heated them up and mashed them into refried beans. These old beans canned up and tasted like all the other pinto beans I've canned and eaten over the past decade or so. So I ate my first two spoonfuls. Still alive 10 minutes later. (And as I finish up this post eight hours later, I’m still kicking. I haven’t even tooted.)
I then boiled some and prepped them for cooking in the Wonder Bag I made last month. After about six hours, they were good and soft and ready to be used in a recipe (though I wasn't ready to use them, so they went into the fridge). And I cooked some on the stove. The texture wasn't quite to my liking, but they were soft enough and mashed up well. I think I just really prefer canned beans.
Be it known that after experimenting with these beans, I am in no way advocating simply throwing beans in a bucket or can and storing them in the garage or out in the elements. Many years ago, before I learned to pressure can, I had done some time trying to cook not-so-old dry beans and implemented all the tricks (aside from canning) to get them to soften without any luck. Penny’s old beans were definitely stored in a hot garage in Vegas for at least 30 years, and in a barn here in Northern Nevada with hot summers and sometimes brutal winters for over 25 years. She has no idea whether the beans were packed with dry ice (to flush out the oxygen and kill bugs). I can say there was, so far, no evidence of any bugs. What I am saying is that there is no good reason to throw out food just because it is old. Though it may be lacking somewhat nutritionally (and even that is debatable now), it might be just fine for filling empty tummies.
Links to related posts:
Expanded Food Storage—Refried Beans
Best-By Dates: What Those Numbers Stamped on Cans and Packages Really Mean
Use-By Dates To Be Taken Seriously
When to Re-Use Canning Lids and How to Make Your Lids Last Longer
References:
I talk and correspond with many people who are interested in preparedness. I wish I had a dollar for everytime I have heard a fellow say that his missus would toss out any food that is beyond its "Best If Used By Date." His usual response was usually something consistent with the expression, "Happy wife, happy life." Many people refuse to listen to reason, even to the point of saying, "The FDA's opinion be damned."
ReplyDeleteAbout the oldest food I have ever tried was 10 years beyond its "Best If Used By" date. I am still alive and kickin' and no trip to the ER was ever involved.
I'm not crazy. I just believe that if I am going to "talk the talk," I need to "walk the walk." You have adequately advised readers in several articles about how to test canned goods in order to ensure that the contents are safe and edible. If readers stick to the tests you've described, I can't imagine that anyone would have trouble.
Very informative post. Thank you, Jennifer.
ReplyDeleteMost interesting thing I've read lately, thanks!
ReplyDelete