# Quick bean soup help...worms?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 27, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725 "2009-12-27T19:39:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Clivas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clivas)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/1 "2009-12-27T19:39:40Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/2 "2009-12-27T19:44:44Z")
Taste one and see if it tastes like a little fragment of ham. 😛
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### Author:  [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/3 "2009-12-27T19:45:33Z")
Part of the beans, if you boil them into mush there is the remainder of the vestigial seed shoot that stays intactish.
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### Author:  [@Clivas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clivas)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/4 "2009-12-27T19:48:24Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Taste one and see if it tastes like a little fragment of ham. 😛
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.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/5 "2009-12-27T19:49:14Z")
Do you have a magnifying glass?
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/6 "2009-12-27T19:50:20Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Clivas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clivas)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/7 "2009-12-27T19:54:21Z")
Good enough. I’m digging in!
Thanks all!
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/8 "2009-12-27T21:33:57Z")
I found this
> [@](#):
>
> Checking for Bugs in Beans
>
> Here’s how to do it (based on classes by Rabbi Moshe Vaye):
>
> The insects are found beneath the skin and are not detectable when the bean is dry.
>
> 1. Bring the beans to a boil in 2-3 times their volume of water.
>
> 2. Turn off the flame and leave covered for 2 hours.
>
> 3. Place a handful of beans on your palm, check one side, turn over onto the other hand and check the second side. A dark stain under the peel is a suspicious sign. With a little experience, one can tell which stain is the result of insect activity and which is just a natural growth blemish. In case of doubt, take off the peel and check underneath for a worm.
>
> 4. If three beans have worms or typical round holes, according to many rabbis, all the beans in that batch should be peeled, halved and checked inside. It’s best to always halve a few as a spot check, since there are sometimes moth larvae in the center.
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
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/9 "2009-12-27T22:00:55Z")
I had the same thing happen with beef stew; I think they were composed of corn meal.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/10 "2009-12-28T03:34:33Z")
Secret hint: add a few dashes of Angostura bitters to the soup just before serving. Amazing.
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### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/11 "2009-12-28T04:09:34Z")
Beans are dicotyledons. The seeds have two halves with a root sprout between them.
> **[Dicotyledon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicotyledon)**
>
> The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, that the seed has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. There are around 200,000 species within this group. The other group of flowering plants were called monocotyledons (or monocots), typically each having one cotyledon. Historically, these two groups Large...
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.
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### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [December 28, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-bean-soup-help-worms/522725/12 "2009-12-28T04:16:30Z")
That probably wasn’t the best link to cite. Here’s another, but you get the idea.
> **[Phaseolus vulgaris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_bean)**
>
> Phaseolus vulgaris, the common bean, is a herbaceous annual plant grown worldwide for its edible dry seeds or green, unripe pods. Its leaf is also occasionally used as a vegetable and the straw as fodder. Its botanical classification, along with other Phaseolus species, is as a member of the legume family Fabaceae. Like most members of this family, common beans acquire the nitrogen they require through an association with rhizobia, which are nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
> The common bean has a long...