# What happened to Ranch Style Beans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157 "2012-01-30T04:28:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/1 "2012-01-30T04:28:22Z")
[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? ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/2 "2012-01-30T04:52:34Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/3 "2012-01-30T05:04:32Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > Are you talking about the brand Ranch style? . Yes. The same ones in the link I posted. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/4 "2012-01-30T05:52:18Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/5 "2012-01-30T06:11:30Z")
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!) ---
**Author:** ![YoDoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e68b1a/32.png) [@YoDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoDoc)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/6 "2012-01-30T06:20:57Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/7 "2012-01-30T07:00:19Z")
Maybe you just got a bad batch. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/8 "2012-01-30T22:22:19Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/9 "2012-01-31T06:22:38Z")
> [@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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/10 "2012-01-31T07:27:59Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/11 "2012-01-31T07:45:37Z")
> [@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). Those look like the same label to me. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/12 "2012-01-31T11:39:47Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/13 "2012-01-31T13:58:15Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/14 "2012-01-31T14:37:26Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/15 "2012-01-31T14:48:57Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![countrycitygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@countrycitygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/countrycitygirl)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/16 "2013-06-16T19:12:56Z")
My first can I tried within the last year were yucky. Just tried them again and they were still off!! the color was lighter and the taste was blaugh. Please bring them back!!! We miss this Texas icon. ---
**Author:** ![cavefan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cavefan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cavefan)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/17 "2015-10-24T21:08:35Z")
The Ranch Style Beans have definitely changed since the ones I used for years. I haven’t bought any in awhile so I got some to make chili. I noticed that my chili tasted different than usual. The beans used to be in a redder sauce and seem to be a different bean even;they are more like pork and beans(navy beans). What gives? I bought the original kind and no, not a bad batch. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/18 "2015-10-26T17:28:14Z")
I had a can recently that, when I opened it, it looked like something was wrong. No waxy orange grease at the top of the can, and the beans themselves looked like refried beans. Since I didn’t have anything else, so I went ahead and cooked with them. It came out OK. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/19 "2015-10-27T01:18:26Z")
Okay, so I’m now thinking of an ALL-ZOMBIE remake of BLAZING SADDLES. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-ranch-style-beans/611157/20 "2015-10-29T00:42:40Z")
I haven’t looked at one in years, but, I thought that they had been kidney beans…