Bad green beans, why?

[pacanis]

So last night I opened a 1lb bag of Greenline Harricot Verts. I buy the larger bag all the time without a problem, but sometimes I don't use them all up before they go slimey on me, so I went with the smaller bag this time. The "best if used by" date is today. When I opened the bag last night they were sticky.
I needed those beans for something I was cooking, so I rinsed them off and used them. They looked OK and smelled OK and I figured with the nuking and sauteing they would be fine. I guess they were whew....

Today they are not only sticky, they are blackening fast. And BTW, I left the bag open last night in the crisper thinking they would be better off if they could breathe. They weren't. They got tossed.

So why the stickiness? Usually any beans I've had go bad get slimey. And I've never had them go bad before the date on the bag, even though I was only good by one day. Is this just another way green beans can go bad?

 

[jennyema]

Decaying food can be slimy, sticky, mushy,etc. Your beans are rotting.

I wouldn't have used them and would have returned them to the store.

If you buy the big bag, you can blanch and freeze the leftover beans before they go bad on you.

 

[pacanis]

Hmmm, that stinks.
I've tried blanching asparagus before. One time it worked out OK, the other time it didn't. I couldn't get the right "doneness" no matter how I cooked that second batch, which was around 5 bunches. Plus I thought I was doing myself a favor and being smart by laying them out on a cookie sheet, then putting them in a FS bag..... CRUNCH! I wound up with bags of broken spears.

Is there a blanch chart around somewhere? Someone in the store told me 4 minutes at a boil and 4 minutes under cold running water, pat dry and freeze (for asparagus anyway). I don't know what happened to that second batch, but I haven't thought about blanching since.

 

[GotGarlic]

Hmmm, that stinks.
I've tried blanching asparagus before. One time it worked out OK, the other time it didn't. I couldn't get the right "doneness" no matter how I cooked that second batch, which was around 5 bunches. Plus I thought I was doing myself a favor and being smart by laying them out on a cookie sheet, then putting them in a FS bag..... CRUNCH! I wound up with bags of broken spears.

Is there a blanch chart around somewhere? Someone in the store told me 4 minutes at a boil and 4 minutes under cold running water, pat dry and freeze (for asparagus anyway). I don't know what happened to that second batch, but I haven't thought about blanching since.

Here's one: National Center for Home Food Preservation | How Do I? Freeze We blanched green beans and peas from the spring garden and put them in zipper freezer bags. When blanching, I have a large bowl of ice water ready. Then I pour the boiling water with the veggies through a colander that fits inside the bowl, drain the water, and put the colander in the water bath. This stops the cooking very quickly. In a couple of minutes, the veggies are cooled down.

Remember that blanching is not intended to cook the veggies to the point where you would eat them - it's to kill bacteria on the surface, reduce vitamin loss, and stop the action of enzymes that lead to spoilage.

Sorry you learned the hard way not to use the Food Saver on soft veggies. It'll squish bread, too. I wrap bread in a layer of foil, then put that in a freezer bag to freeze.

 

[jennyema]

Is there a blanch chart around somewhere? Someone in the store told me 4 minutes at a boil and 4 minutes under cold running water, pat dry and freeze (for asparagus anyway). I don't know what happened to that second batch, but I haven't thought about blanching since.

Not really. Blanching is just a very quick par-cook. You boil briefly -- for like one minute or so -- and then immediately submerge in ice water (not running water).

 

[pacanis]

Cool chart, GG. Thanks!

I think I blanched the second batch too long, they were pretty thin spears. I couldn't even get them to firm up on the grill....
And I will try to shock the veggies better my next attempt. My pasta pot should double nicely as a blanching pot, or if I wanted to use the steamer insert.

Thanks Both!