Quick bean soup help...worms?

Cafe Society
1

I just made a big pot of bean and ham soup. I’ve done this before several times but have never seen this. Now that it’s done and most of my beans are mush, my pot is loaded with little rice sized pinkish white crescent things that suspiciously look like worms. There were nothing resembling worms in my beans when I soaked them, nor were there any in the ham as far as I could tell. I’ve done internet searches and haven’t found anything real definitive and don’t want to look all day 'cause my fresh bread is almost done and I’m HUNGRY!!! Please help. Are these worms or just part of the beans or ham that came out with the cooking?

2

Taste one and see if it tastes like a little fragment of ham. :stuck_out_tongue:

3

Part of the beans, if you boil them into mush there is the remainder of the vestigial seed shoot that stays intactish.

4

I actually did. My wife laughed at me. She said “You are all paranoid that you have worms in your soup but then you taste it to see if it tastes wormy?!” Well, it’s been simmering for about three or four hours, I’m sure they are dead. One worm I can handle, a bowlful is a different story.

5

Do you have a magnifying glass?

6

Same thing happened to me, the first time I attempted bean soup. I tossed it all out and called mom to tell her there were worms in the beans. She laughed and laughed.

Like casdave said, they’re not worms – your beans are just overcooked a bit.

7

Good enough. I’m digging in!

Thanks all!

8

I found this

I’ve also found a few people that found the dried beans they bought become infected not from the store, but after they bring them home. Evidently 1/4 inch brown moths love beans and other dried grains

9

I had the same thing happen with beef stew; I think they were composed of corn meal.

10

Secret hint: add a few dashes of Angostura bitters to the soup just before serving. Amazing.

11

Beans are dicotyledons. The seeds have two halves with a root sprout between them.

The little worms you see are the root sprout. If the beans were allowed to germinate, the root/worm would turn down into the soil, and the two halves of the bean would rise up above the soil and open to become the first set of leaves.

12

That probably wasn’t the best link to cite. Here’s another, but you get the idea.