What happened to Ranch Style Beans?

[Runs With Scissors]

Ranch Style Beans (http://www.conagrafoods.com/consumer/brands/getBrand.do?page=ranch_style)

I have always loved them, although I don't eat them more than a few times a year. I bought a couple cans today and was really excited to have with dinner tonight.

There were two indications that something was off. First, the beans were small. One thing I always liked about them (as opposed to pork and beans) was the beans were usually larger. Oh, well, not a big deal.

The second indication was the smell. They were off. The smell reminded me of lima beans. Lima beans have that herbal/minty/soapy smell and flavor that I find repellant.

And then I tasted them. They just weren't the same. The sauce didn't even seem as good as I remember. And there was definitely a "lima bean" hint of flavor. Not strong, but there.

It's not like I haven't had them since I was a kid and have just mis-remembered what they're like. I have them a few times a year.

Has anyone else noticed this?

[BrassyPhrase]

Are you talking about the brand Ranch style? B/c I've not seen a big change (and I eat them all the time in different ways).

If they do taste like lima beans (which I haven't noticed), I may not have noticed b/c I like lima beans.

[Runs With Scissors]

Are you talking about the brand Ranch style? .

Yes. The same ones in the link I posted.

[devilsknew]

Wouldn't know, never seen them, never tried them, never even heard of them. Is it a regional product?
Was it anything like Big John's Beans and Fixin's (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Johns-Beans-n-Fixins/24456413339). Wish they still made those, those were good beans with their own little concentrated flavor and fixin can riding piggyback

[LVBoPeep]

I have them from time to time...don't really seem to notice a difference from when I was a kid.
They still are heads and tails better than pork and beans (yak!)

[YoDoc]

They get on my shopping list once every two weeks or so. Haven't noticed a difference.

Not very regional, no. I buy them in DFW, Texas, and also in Delphi, IN when I'm up there.

[EddyTeddyFreddy]

Maybe you just got a bad batch.

[aceplace57]

You probably bought the wrong variety. Did you notice in your link there's Ranch original, Ranch Pinto, Black-Eyed Peas With Bacon, Black Label Black Beans and several more?

The cans look very similar. Anyone could easily grab the wrong one. I'd guess that you wanted the Black Ranch original. Or maybe just the can marked Ranch Style Beans? Heck its confusing me now and I used to buy these for hunting trips.

[Runs With Scissors]

You probably bought the wrong variety. Did you notice in your link there's Ranch original, Ranch Pinto, Black-Eyed Peas With Bacon, Black Label Black Beans and several more?

The cans look very similar. Anyone could easily grab the wrong one. I'd guess that you wanted the Black Ranch original. Or maybe just the can marked Ranch Style Beans? Heck its confusing me now and I used to buy these for hunting trips.

I checked the can. It just said Ranch Style Beans. It didn't say original or anything. No description. I looked at the ingredients; they said pinto beans.

The way I remember them, they were bigger than pinto beans, but were the same color, but just tiny bit tougher (but not tough). They weren't this small. These beans are the size you'd find in a national brand of pork and beans.

[aceplace57]

It looks like the first can in your OP link is the unmarked one. Just for the heck of it I'd risk a $1 and buy a can that's labeled original (the last can in your link).

They may have screwed around with the labeling. Some genius may have thought his recipe was better than what they'd used for fifty years. ;) I suspect the Original is the one most of us grew up eating as kids.

[pulykamell]

It looks like the first can in your OP link is the unmarked one. Just for the heck of it I'd risk a $1 and buy a can that's labeled original (the last can in your link).

Those look like the same label to me.

[Maserschmidt]

I used to live a few miles from the RSB plant in Fort Worth, and ate a lot of them growing up, but haven't had them since we moved to New England.

That said, didn't the plant move sometime in the last couple of years? I know ConAgra kept saying they were going to relocate it.

[Ca3799]

I think you just picked up a wrong variety. I seem to recall that way back when, there was only one kind of Ranch Style Beans. Now there are many. I still like the original best.

[ThelmaLou]

Was it anything like Big John's Beans and Fixin's (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Johns-Beans-n-Fixins/24456413339). Wish they still made those, those were good beans with their own little concentrated flavor and fixin can riding piggyback

Big John's Beans first came out when I was in graduate school ~1970. The little can of fixin's that was attached to the can of beans contained sauce and chopped onions. You could see the chopped onion pieces. I loved these beans-- the taste was more tomato-y than barbecue-y. And the onions really kicked the flavor up.

Many years later I saw them in the store and decided to buy a can and take my taste buds on a trip down Memory Lane. I was dismayed that the fixin's can now just had a smushy-mushy paste of some kind in it. No more chopped onions. The taste was unremarkable.

[redtail23]

Ranch Style Beans have always been pinto beans. The brand name came from existing recipes for pinto beans. Pork&beans are made with navy beans, which are smaller.

I don't eat the original RSB often so I wouldn't know if they changed, but I'd also think that either you grabbed one of the other varieties, or maybe got a bad batch.