FOOD I've come to the sad truth that most, not all, of the dried beans in our stores are no longer sproutable

[tnphil]

I made pinto beans last Wednesday, and with this thread in mind, I was curious... I used Kroger brand dried pintos. I took out 8 beans before soaking/cooking and put them between damp paper towels. As of today, 5 have sprouted. That's 5 days to sprout.

Follow up... as of this morning, 7 of the 8 beans have sprouted, but my paper towels got a bit dry. They are just laying in the kitchen at room temperature of about 68 degrees, no warming, etc.
The "best by" date on the bag is Sept 2024, so I'm guessing harvested and dried maybe 7 months ago?

 

[Slydersan]

I've heard the same thing about light/dark pinto beans. But I usually grow a small row every year and I can tell you that I get both each and every year - some are dark and some are light. I almost always let them dry on the vine, and when I shell them, they are light and dark. I couldn't tell you an exact variety - but I know I started out growing them from some random 1lb. bag of pinto beans from the grocery store as an experiment. And have planted some Burpees seed as well and they all just happily make me beans from which I keep a small plastic baggie for next year's seed. I've tried planting just dark ones to see if I get dark ones only, etc. but I got light ones as well. So it all is just random as far as I can tell.

And yes I did they same thing as Tristan, except I used the 12-bean soup mix. I didn't plant every kind, but I know I used lima, black, pinto, navy, and kidney beans from the mix. Everything sprouted, came up and produced beans of various types.

 

[Wildwood]

I had some stevia butter bean seed we had grown about 15 years.. ago they had been just sitting there in a jar in the kitchen....and we decided to grow them again I had a nearly impossible time finding ...any seed ... finally sprouted the ones on the counter.. they all sprouted but one... so we had one pot that year and grew out the rest for seed...we now have several years worth of seed...
not finding the seed for sale here is nuts
Thomas Jefferson grew them here at Monticello back in the 1700s...the old hardware store in town..no longer there...always carried them loose by the pound..
I have grown Goya... Giant Lima now I will have to sprout beans to see what works..if anything

I just wanted to touch base and let you know my Sieva beans were a success. We had them for supper tonight with sliced tomatoes and fried squash, all from the garden and I opened a jar of canned chicken that I sauteed in it's own juices and of course, corn bread that I almost burned. They were so good it prompted me to give you an update and let you know how much I appreciate you letting us know about them.

It was a battle to get them going with the squirrel issue and I had to end up reordering but it was worth it. I'm keeping plenty for seeds. I realize the seeds I got from that company were not the best. Some were a little moldy looking, some misshapen and some were small...about a third looked like culls so I'm sure that didn't help my germination issues.

In a year where the garden didn't do it's absolute best, I feel like we got a good crop of them. I didn't end up canning any. I've had an issue with one of my arms so my canning was on a have to basis. My gut feeling is that they will do great as a dried bean...they dry so easily with no mold at all. There were times when I just couldn't pick them that day but we haven't lost a single one yet. In fact, we can never seem to get them all picked lol. DS and I picked for a straight hour yesterday and had to quit. Last weekend, me and both grandkids probably picked for an hour and a half one day and an hour the next and finally had to quit. That's not counting my everyday trip to the garden where I stop and pick for a while. We will, for sure, be keeping them in the garden.

 

[bracketquant]

Follow up... as of this morning, 7 of the 8 beans have sprouted, but my paper towels got a bit dry. They are just laying in the kitchen at room temperature of about 68 degrees, no warming, etc.
The "best by" date on the bag is Sept 2024, so I'm guessing harvested and dried maybe 7 months ago?

My guess would be harvested fall of 2022.

 

[bracketquant]

Fifteen years is a long time...thank goodness you were able to save them. Pole is all I raise too. I've tried bush varieties but I prefer the pole. They are much easier to pick and stay a lot cleaner plus they usually produce more and for a longer period of time. Once my peas start producing, they keep going until the first frost. I'm very careful when I'm picking them, not to damage anything. DH is the only other person allowed to pick them lol.

I've got some four o' clock seeds I found when we sold my parent's house last fall and my mother has been gone for eighteen years so they are at least that old. They are the speckled white ones so I'm going to try to germinate them once I get caught up on the garden. The day before we closed on the house, I waded into that huge four o' clock patch and got all the seeds I could but most were the run of the mill kind. It's a miracle I didn't get snake bit.

For peas, it's scissors only, here, when harvesting pods.

 

[Wildwood]

For peas, it's scissors only, here, when harvesting pods.

That is brilliant. I've been killing my back and shoulder this year. For some reason, the pea pods have been extra hard to pull from the vine and DH has noticed it too. I know it's not my age or the fact that I'm on the short side and am usually picking straight over my head. Tomorrow, I'll be taking my scissors.

 

[bracketquant]

That is brilliant. I've been killing my back and shoulder this year. For some reason, the pea pods have been extra hard to pull from the vine and DH has noticed it too. I know it's not my age or the fact that I'm on the short side and am usually picking straight over my head. Tomorrow, I'll be taking my scissors.

If you're harvesting a lot, find a really comfortable pair of scissors.

 

[bracketquant]

Earlier in the year, in cooler weather, I tested commercial 1 pound or larger bags of dry beans, and about 2/3 of the varieties germinated. But, I didn't record which was which in being successful. I'll likely do another trial this fall, and record the info for next year's garden. I also did a very small sample size of about 5 beans. I'll go with about 20, this time.

 

[Coulter]

More likely they were treated with a anti-sprout coating for storage. They do it with potatoes to keep the cellars fresher.

I have NEVER had dried beans sprout.

Not saying they don't but I've never heard of it.

 

[Delta]

I've never though of people as "dried beans", but I think a lot of them are not sproutable (or simply shouldn't bother trying to sprout).

 

[Wildwood]

Earlier in the year, in cooler weather, I tested commercial 1 pound or larger bags of dry beans, and about 2/3 of the varieties germinated. But, I didn't record which was which in being successful. I'll likely do another trial this fall, and record the info for next year's garden. I also did a very small sample size of about 5 beans. I'll go with about 20, this time.

In hindsight, I think it was my favorite brands giving me problems. I've kept buying them year after year, never noticing they had changed in appearance. The outer covering is almost flaky and wrinkled unlike the appearance beans use to have and they cook up way too fast so those, I think, have been pretreated in some way.

I bought a brand @Digger suggested and they do not have that look...upon close inspection, they look like beans use to. We live in the same general region so I was able to find that one...the others suggested were no longer available here. My best intentions to try sprouting them didn't happen but I did buy some for my preps and canned up all the old ones...I won't be buying those brands again and wanted them out of the way so I wouldn't get them mixed up. I will try sprouting again with the new brand.

Once the garden started, I couldn't get much more done than what was already on my plate. I haven't been my usual energetic self and I'm hoping this isn't my new normal...overwhelmed would be a good descrition of me in the last year and the garden has stretched me to the limit physically but I've persevered. I'm almost thankful it is all but done...the Lord works in mysterious ways and made the garden quit a month early lol.

If you're harvesting a lot, find a really comfortable pair of scissors.

That was my thought too. Maybe a shorter than average pair that I can easily get into tight spots with...I harvest a lot and every day once they start producing. Also, I think it will be much easier on my arm and shoulder.

Next year I hope to have a little farm stand and sell shelled purple hulls. I've got enough canned to last for years. We do like to eat them fresh throughout the summer but that is just a drop in the bucket.

 

[Digger]

If you are ever in Russellville, Price Milling sells bulk garden seed. That’s where I get some of mine that I don’t seed save. Or you could have my son bring them to you. I know he would when he is coming down.

 

[bracketquant]

In hindsight, I think it was my favorite brands giving me problems. I've kept buying them year after year, never noticing they had changed in appearance. The outer covering is almost flaky and wrinkled unlike the appearance beans use to have and they cook up way too fast so those, I think, have been pretreated in some way.

I bought a brand @Digger suggested and they do not have that look...upon close inspection, they look like beans use to. We live in the same general region so I was able to find that one...the others suggested were no longer available here. My best intentions to try sprouting them didn't happen but I did buy some for my preps and canned up all the old ones...I won't be buying those brands again and wanted them out of the way so I wouldn't get them mixed up. I will try sprouting again with the new brand.

Once the garden started, I couldn't get much more done than what was already on my plate. I haven't been my usual energetic self and I'm hoping this isn't my new normal...overwhelmed would be a good descrition of me in the last year and the garden has stretched me to the limit physically but I've persevered. I'm almost thankful it is all but done...the Lord works in mysterious ways and made the garden quit a month early lol.


That was my thought too. Maybe a shorter than average pair that I can easily get into tight spots with...I harvest a lot and every day once they start producing. Also, I think it will be much easier on my arm and shoulder.

Next year I hope to have a little farm stand and sell shelled purple hulls. I've got enough canned to last for years. We do like to eat them fresh throughout the summer but that is just a drop in the bucket.

I've had beans growing in the garden for 2 plus decades. As for the seed coat, I've seen just about everything, from seeds germinating in the pod, seed coats splitting wide open, and the wrinkled seed coat that you mention. The wrinkled seeds germinated fine.

As for scissors, if it is only the tips that need to get into the vines, an option is Fiskers-type spring loaded snips. I like their child scissors. Not the blunt ones, for the youngest child, but the pointed ones for the next older age range. Of course that was a couple of decades ago, and I don't know if their quality is still good. Cheap knock-offs will break at the plastic covered hinge point. There's usually a cheap metal rivet under there. Some have no metal, only plastic. Those break real fast. The ones with a small exposed bolt and nut last much longer.

 

[Wildwood]

I've had beans growing in the garden for 2 plus decades. As for the seed coat, I've seen just about everything, from seeds germinating in the pod, seed coats splitting wide open, and the wrinkled seed coat that you mention. The wrinkled seeds germinated fine.

As for scissors, if it is only the tips that need to get into the vines, an option is Fiskers-type spring loaded snips. I like their child scissors. Not the blunt ones, for the youngest child, but the pointed ones for the next older age range. Of course that was a couple of decades ago, and I don't know if their quality is still good. Cheap knock-offs will break at the plastic covered hinge point. There's usually a cheap metal rivet under there. Some have no metal, only plastic. Those break real fast. The ones with a small exposed bolt and nut last much longer.

I have scissors my forty something kids used in elementary school and they are still working great but the spring loaded would be nice too. Anything to save wear and tear on these old hands.

I love scissors and buy vintage ones by the lot to sell in my booth at the antique mall. I often come across good ones that are better quality than anything you can buy now and I often keep a pair for myself but for some reason I can't hold onto them...my family members think what is mine is theirs. DH is the worst.

I save most of the seeds I plant and I aim for the best looking ones but you are right, I've had some of the most compromised seeds germinate.

 

[BornFree]

My guess is that they messed with Genetics and messed them up. Just the way they turned tomato's into crap.

 

[bracketquant]

I have scissors my forty something kids used in elementary school and they are still working great but the spring loaded would be nice too. Anything to save wear and tear on these old hands.

I love scissors and buy vintage ones by the lot to sell in my booth at the antique mall. I often come across good ones that are better quality than anything you can buy now and I often keep a pair for myself but for some reason I can't hold onto them...my family members think what is mine is theirs. DH is the worst.

I save most of the seeds I plant and I aim for the best looking ones but you are right, I've had some of the most compromised seeds germinate.

My go to scissors are Fiskers, 8", forged, polished, stainless steel, made for fabric cutting. Today, they cost about $20, were about $15 when I got them.

While I use them in the garden mainly for detaching peas, beans and tomatoes from their plants, they are mostly used in the kitchen for cutting up raw chicken, beef, pork and fish. I'm constantly washing them, so the stainless steel is a must have material.

 

[bracketquant]

My guess is that they messed with Genetics and messed them up. Just the way they turned tomato's into crap.

There are very few new bean varieties introduced for large scale commercial harvesting, that I know of. So, I doubt that genetics were messed with.

The average consumer is the one who messed up (hybrid) tomatoes. They demand perfectly round red specimens, with no regard for flavor. To get them from field to supermarket, they are picked green. I'm unsure if ethylene gas is still used to artificially ripen them, like with bananas.

The heirloom tomato community is booming, for folks who could care less if a tomato is ugly, as long as it's great tasting.

 

[Wildwood]

My go to scissors are Fiskers, 8", forged, polished, stainless steel, made for fabric cutting. Today, they cost about $20, were about $15 when I got them.

While I use them in the garden mainly for detaching peas, beans and tomatoes from their plants, they are mostly used in the kitchen for cutting up raw chicken, beef, pork and fish. I'm constantly washing them, so the stainless steel is a must have material.

That is exactly what I need. I need new kitchen scissors too. Mine came up missing a month or so ago along with my best sewing scissors. I can't decide if it's DH or my little granddaughter who keeps borrowing them...or am I losing them and I've gotten so senile I don't realize it.

 

[pauldingbabe]

Touching my scissors is like going through my purse, you just don't do it!

 

[Wildwood]

Touching my scissors is like going through my purse, you just don't do it!

I know. I've spoiled DH and I fear it's too late to undo it...the granddaughter too. Heck the whole bunch is rotten lol.

I bought a huge lot of vintage scissors several years back. There was this one pair in the lot that I will grieve over til the day I die...or my memory deserts me. I loved them and kept them for myself. They were a short pair of heavy little iron utility scissors with all kinds of little extras including the back of one blade was a file...that sort of thing and they cut like a dream and took lots of abuse. They were really old and had that well loved and used feel about them but in great shape. I showed them to DH and told him not to take them out of the house....of course they eventually came up missing and I blamed myself.

A year or so later, I went to the barn where DH had his woodworking shop, to take a load of stuff that had made it's way to the house. Right there on DH's desk, in plain sight, were the scissors....I'm pretty sure he loved them too...they were a little masculine looking. I decided not to grab them and would confront him later. A few days after that, his barn burned to the ground and we lost so many things that I just couldn't bring up those scissors. He had vintage tools that couldn't be replaced and all his jigs and patterns...it's been four or five years now and I just brought up the scissors last week when yet another pair or two came up missing.

It's a darn good thing I love that man so much and on a happier note, he's finally going to finish pouring the foundation for a new woodworking shop. He was so gutted over the loss of the last one and all it's contents that he couldn't face rebuilding so he got a job. I am beyond excited at the prospect of having him working here on our place again, at least part time.

 

[bracketquant]

That is exactly what I need. I need new kitchen scissors too. Mine came up missing a month or so ago along with my best sewing scissors. I can't decide if it's DH or my little granddaughter who keeps borrowing them...or am I losing them and I've gotten so senile I don't realize it.

They are fairly heavy, at about 7 ounces, I think. If I find my old postal scale, it has 1988 postage rates on it, I'll weight the scissors.

 

[summerthyme]

That is exactly what I need. I need new kitchen scissors too. Mine came up missing a month or so ago along with my best sewing scissors. I can't decide if it's DH or my little granddaughter who keeps borrowing them...or am I losing them and I've gotten so senile I don't realize it.

If you don't have issues with buying from Temu, they have some *really * nice kitchen shears for amazing prices,. I bought these last year... We've used them for everything, including spatchcocking 70 chickens (which involves cutting the spine from the ribs, through all the bones.

They are still sharp enough to cut paper or thin fabric, as well as heavier stuff...haven't needed to sharpen them yet!

This item was discontinued - Temu

Shop kitchen scissors, kitchen shears, heavy duty dishwasher scissors, non slip stainless steel sharp cooking scissors for kitchen, chicken, poultry, fish, meat, herbs- on Temu. Free shipping on items shipped from Temu. more great prices on home & kitchen.

www.temu.com

Summerthyme

 

[Wildwood]

If you don't have issues with buying from Temu, they have some *really * nice kitchen shears for amazing prices,. I bought these last year... We've used them for everything, including spatchcocking 70 chickens (which involves cutting the spine from the ribs, through all the bones.

They are still sharp enough to cut paper or thin fabric, as well as heavier stuff...haven't needed to sharpen them yet!

This item was discontinued - Temu

Shop kitchen scissors, kitchen shears, heavy duty dishwasher scissors, non slip stainless steel sharp cooking scissors for kitchen, chicken, poultry, fish, meat, herbs- on Temu. Free shipping on items shipped from Temu. more great prices on home & kitchen.

www.temu.com

Summerthyme

I've been thinking about buying from them and I could defintely use a pair like that. It seems like I'm always cutting up chicken or some kind of meat to can. I seriously thought about a similar pair on Amazon a few years back and they were almost $70...thanks!

 

[raven]

Not all of the Democrats are sproutable . . . but you should probably continue trying.

 

[tnphil]

Not all of the Democrats are sproutable . . . but you should probably continue trying.

No, but they would be good fertilizer.

 

[Wildwood]

If you are ever in Russellville, Price Milling sells bulk garden seed. That’s where I get some of mine that I don’t seed save. Or you could have my son bring them to you. I know he would when he is coming down.

I need to visit this place but I would love for him to bring some if I can't get over there. I save a huge majority of my seeds but some things are not so easy to save. We usually drive through Russellville every year during Bargains Galore.

The kids sure did enjoy getting to visit with your DS and his family a few weeks ago. DGD threw a fit to go home when she found out they were there lol.

 

[bracketquant]

If you don't have issues with buying from Temu, they have some *really * nice kitchen shears for amazing prices,. I bought these last year... We've used them for everything, including spatchcocking 70 chickens (which involves cutting the spine from the ribs, through all the bones.

They are still sharp enough to cut paper or thin fabric, as well as heavier stuff...haven't needed to sharpen them yet!

This item was discontinued - Temu

Shop kitchen scissors, kitchen shears, heavy duty dishwasher scissors, non slip stainless steel sharp cooking scissors for kitchen, chicken, poultry, fish, meat, herbs- on Temu. Free shipping on items shipped from Temu. more great prices on home & kitchen.

www.temu.com

Summerthyme

What I don't like about those is the standard handle design. For me, an upward offset handle gives a lot more clearance to work with.

And, lefties would have a lot of trouble with them.

 

[summerthyme]

What I don't like about those is the standard handle design. For me, an upward offset handle gives a lot more clearance to work with.

And, lefties would have a lot of trouble with them.

They have many different types and models. Just search "stainless kitchen shears".

I have to say, these are the first ones I've owned that don't hurt my hands. And that DS hasn't broken!

Summerthyme

 

[bracketquant]

They have many different types and models. Just search "stainless kitchen shears".

I have to say, these are the first ones I've owned that don't hurt my hands. And that DS hasn't broken!

Summerthyme

I found a couple of junky plastic handled offset ones, but that's it.

Your aluminum handled stainless steel ones should be closely watched for galvanic corrosion.

 

[summerthyme]

I found a couple of junky plastic handled offset ones, but that's it.

Your aluminum handled stainless steel ones should be closely watched for galvanic corrosion.

After 18 months of nearly daily use, they look brand new...

Summerthyme (and they were under 5 bucks!)