# Food from cans: the good, the acceptable, the horrifying **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2020, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734 "2020-01-01T19:12:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/121 "2020-01-16T13:58:05Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Atomic Shrimp](https://www.youtube.com/user/AtomicShrimp/about) Youtube channel run by our own **Mangetout.** > Among other things, he likes to sample [Weird Stuff In A Can.](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLk5KvJPikK010VM4uJumeNG3_QnvYi0e4) Thanks for the shoutout! Subscribing to this thread… ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/122 "2020-01-16T14:08:43Z")
Mangetout, it seems you have something of a competitor in the blog “New England Wildlife and More” [New England Wildlife & More - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNo_M6MhRkOJ3wsp-YoRpFA) The vlog is mostly focused on the “more,” which more being opening decades-old food cans and inspecting, and sometimes tasting, its contents. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/123 "2020-01-16T17:13:01Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Mangetout, it seems you have something of a competitor in the blog “New England Wildlife and More” [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNo\_M6MhRkOJ3wsp-YoRpFA](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNo_M6MhRkOJ3wsp-YoRpFA) > > The vlog is mostly focused on the “more,” which more being opening decades-old food cans and inspecting, and sometimes tasting, its contents. Now THAT really does seem like Dinnertime Russian Roulette. I made corned beef for the first time last year, and I did it without using curing salts. I was concerned about botulism and one of the things I read that convinced me to go ahead and try it is that sufficient heating destroys not only the bacteria but their toxins as well. Otherwise, food that is tainted in that way may not smell or even taste bad, which implies that the danger lies in eating things straight from the can or jar (like preserves, rather than my corned beef, which of course was cooked after brining). ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/124 "2020-01-16T23:24:19Z")
My wife scans pull dates. Any can at two years is assigned to the Instant Pot with beans and onions. Who’ll notice? ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/125 "2020-01-18T01:39:31Z")
I PREFER canned corn. Fresh corn on the cob can be picked up all over where I live in season and I’d still rather have canned corn. Eating corn on the cob is just like popping yellow zits with your teeth and sucking on corn juice. You need to eat the actual kernel to ‘eat’ corn, which lets be honest, tastes like the salt and butter you put on it which is easier with a warm bowl of canned corn strained. Canned diced tomatoes are solid, fresh tomatoes are better, but no knife in my drawer can dice them like that and who has the time? Corned beef in a can is an abomination. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/126 "2020-01-18T03:34:51Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > My wife scans pull dates. Any can at two years is assigned to the Instant Pot with beans and onions. Who’ll notice? Cans are good for like a decade or even more if not damaged, rusty, bulging etc. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/127 "2020-01-18T03:37:47Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > … > > To answer the OP, canned peas are just fine. Not as nice as fresh, but better than frozen, in my opinion. > … :::shudder::: Canned peas have no texture. They are dingy grayish-green in color. They are flavorless. Frozen peas look like peas. They have varying amounts of “crunch” depending on whether you like them firmer or cooked to mush. Even my mother preferred frozen to canned. Canned corn is meh. It’s edible because the hull seems to preserve some of the texture. It’s useful in recipes, though we don’t usually serve it otherwise. Canned green beans are OK, since I don’t like them “al dente” when cooked from frozen. Other than that : we use all the basics everyone talks about: beans, tomato products etc. If I’m making a pot of soup I’ll usually use dried beans, but canned beans are just SO much easier than cooking dried from scratch. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/128 "2020-01-18T17:52:07Z")
I will eat canned corn (but I prefer frozen or fresh on the cob), I eat plenty of canned white (cannellini) red kidney and black beans (dried is too much work). Canned peas are horrible mushy crap. Peas must be frozen or fresh. Generally I don’t like fruits and most of them have too much sugar for me but I do find canned pineapple tasty. Canned pasta like Spaghettios is a secret comfort food vice. Canned soup is fine but I don’t consider it great unless it’s Manhattan-style clam chowder (I.e., tomato-based rather than cream based) ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/129 "2020-01-18T19:20:28Z")
While I consider myself an adventurous eater, the thought of [canned silkworm pupa](https://www.amazon.com/Yu-Dong-Korean-Silkworm-Canned/dp/B00OPMX1HS) turns my stomach. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/130 "2020-01-18T21:48:22Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > While I consider myself an adventurous eater, the thought of [canned silkworm pupa](https://www.amazon.com/Yu-Dong-Korean-Silkworm-Canned/dp/B00OPMX1HS) turns my stomach. You like your silkworm pupa fresh or frozen, is what you’re saying? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/131 "2020-01-18T22:41:05Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I will eat canned corn (but I prefer frozen or fresh on the cob), I eat plenty of canned white (cannellini) red kidney and black beans (dried is too much work). I find canned lima/fordhook beans way better than frozen, frozen when reheated seem to have an unpleasant mealy interior - canned may be slightly grainy, but not dry and mealy. I usually prefer canned beans to frozen because of that - my favorite way to have many forms of canned beans is in the form of ‘salad’ - drain, rinse the hell out of it to get all the salt and starches from the liquid off, then containerize with something like italian dressing. I have a few odd combinations that work for me, but garbanzos/cannellini/limas, artichoke hearts and fresh [rinsed off in running water after dicing] red onion. Dump onto a bed of lettuce and it is pretty complete. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/132 "2020-01-18T23:05:11Z")
Yeah that reminds me, canned garbanzos/chick peas are a staple of my diet ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/133 "2020-01-19T00:28:45Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Yeah that reminds me, canned garbanzos/chick peas are a staple of my diet I must have been raised very WASP because I never even heard of garbanzos till I read Ginsberg’s [AMERICA](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49305/america-56d22b41f119f): > [@](#): > > America when I was seven momma took me to Communist Cell meetings they sold us garbanzos a handful per ticket a ticket costs a nickel and the speeches were free everybody was angelic and sentimental about the workers it was all so sincere… Chick peas just didn’t abound in Southern California like pintos or navy beans. Garbanzos showed up in cheap three-bean salads but that was later. Now they’re mostly in hummus. I can’t really say what canned foods are awful now because they’ve been filtered out of our lives. Toss whatever is lousy and don’t get it again. That’s most stuff. Easy, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734/134 "2020-01-19T01:12:21Z")
I also have an aversion for canned goods, but I do keep garbanzo beans, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots in cans as it’s convenient for recipes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-from-cans-the-good-the-acceptable-the-horrifying/845734.md?page=6)