a food question I didn't expect to have to ask

[redbird]

cattitude has just sent a break-up message to Goya foods, having discovered via Twitter that their president is an ardent Trump supporter.

After twenty-five happy years, we are looking for other sources of canned beans worth the eating, and of olive oil.

My notes from Washington say that O Organics canned black beans are acceptable but bland, and Eden Organic navy beans are good.

I realize this is small potatoes compared to having to break up with a close friend or partner, or cut off a relative, for similar reasons--but I haven't had to do that (which may say something positive about my family). Speaking of family, boycotting food for political reasons was part of my upbringing--we did without grapes for years, to support the United Farm Workers.

Comments

[conuly]

Goya!?

[adrian_turtle]

Yes, Goya.
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/09/889600302/calls-to-boycott-goya-foods-after-ceo-praises-president-trump
It's shocking.

Redbird, I've been happy with Trader Joe's olive oil. I expected Market Basket beans to be good, but I didn't like their canned chickpeas. They felt a little undercooked, though they might be ok if I was going to cook them more than a few minutes. I'm thinking of getting dried chickpeas from there, cooking a big batch in the crockpot despite the heat, and freezing them in little packages.

[minoanmiss]

I am SAD. I don't get my olive oil from them (we tend to buy Trader Joe's or Costco/Kirkland for bulk olive oil, and I have a terrible habit of froufrou ones) but I love their canned beans. I will have to canned-bean hunt and report back.

[cjsmith]

Yeah, this is definitely a blow. :/

[bibliofile]

Alas.

I remember the grapes! And rejoicing when we could eat them again.

(These days it's not so clear. AFAICT, no union-picked grapes ever appear in my local grocery stores. There's supposed to be a stamp on the crate/box?)

[ranunculus]

Do they have to be canned? If you have time dry beans do soak up pretty easy AND they are available from small growers. Edit: and they taste a LOT better.

[tim]

I don't really recommend Eden Foods anything either: https://www.salon.com/test2/2013/04/11/organic_eden_foods_quiet_right_wing_agenda/

Trader Joe's has good/cheap canned beans.

[redbird]

Thanks. There's no point paying 2 or 3 times as much if that just means the money will go to a different bunch of right-wingers.

TJ's is good, would be better if I had a car.

[minnehaha]

That Eden Foods story is seven years old. Once I find a free moment I'm going to see if something has changed. The story also mentions Whole Foods. Maybe before Bezos bought it?

K.

[redbird]

Thanks for looking into this.

Bezos and Whole Foods aren't great, even though Trump has decided that Bezos is his enemy. There were recent stories about a store in Cambridge, MA, sending employees home for wearing anti-covid masks that said "Black Lives Matter."

[minnehaha]

So, ugh. I do not like being a constitutional law scholar, but this letter is the most recent part of the story I could find: https://www.edenfoods.com/articles/view.php?articles_id=243

There's supporting info on SCOTUSblog.

TL;DR: Feel free to boycott. This company does not want to give women the health care they need and, as human beings, are due.

K.

[lcohen]

massive sadness--i need to break up with them, too. i'll have to watch this thread for recommendations.

[minnehaha]

I honestly wonder if I am capable of caring about the difference between one or another brand of canned beans, from a taste perspective. Next time I am buying beans, I think I will buy the store-brand absolute cheapest and see if they satisfy.

K.

[redbird]

Please report back. I didn't think I would care, and I don't remember how much of the problem with the other brands of beans was flavor. It's possible that there was a bit of "I miss New York, I miss my old neighborhood, this place doesn't even have the right kind of canned goods" influencing that.

[minnehaha]

I will, though such a report would be more useful to you if I were also in MA.

K.

[redbird]

A lot of "store brand" things are the same product from one store to another, and one area of the country to another. I noticed that "Signature farms" turns up here and in Washington.

[adrian_turtle]

I used to think they were commodities, like flour. But they aren't. Sometimes I've had other brands, because they were less expensive or the store was out of Goya. (Or recently, when somebody was shopping for me and I specified the type of can but not the brand.) It turns out there are canned beans I dislike, but it's more texture than taste. I may try them again, just for dishes where I'm going to cook them a long time anyway.

[minnehaha]

It's definitely true that we all get to like what we like and not have to defend it. Maybe re-fry the ones with texture issues for you, or make bean paté?

As a Mill Citizen and Minnesotan, I am contractually obligated to use General Mills Gold Medal or Pillsbury flour, but have recently learned that soft wheat flour (or, the lack thereof in those general purpose flours) is why my biscuits are not as light and lofty as I'd like. Pastry flour is the way to go for biscuits.

K.

[tarasacon]

I eat a lot of canned beans, as well as cooking my own. For canned I rely on Kroger’s house brand of organics (Simple Truth, I think it’s called) and on Aldi’s. Both are lower sodium (so slightly bland) but the texture is good, and I prefer to be in control of my seasoning. But I don’t know if either of these stores are available to you?

[redbird]

Instacart says they deliver from Aldi's to our address; I don't think there;s a nearby Kroger's.

If there's some bean flavor and the texture is OK, I'm fine with adding my own seasoning, and in fact always add at least a little. Even on the "aargh, can't cope" days when I dump a can of beans in a bowl and microwave them, I'll put salsa on them.

This issue, like many others, is complicated by not doing our own grocery shopping during the pandemic.

[brooksmoses]

One of the big things I've noticed varying with canned beans is the level of salt -- and it's a sort of odd thing. Highest salt is normal canned beans (and, IIRC, Goya is among the higher of those, though please check for yourself if that's relevant). Lower than that are the low-salt ones. And then lower than that are organic ones, pretty much across the board. I specifically buy the "O Organics" beans in large part because of that.

So that could be a large part of the blandness or lack thereof, unless you're comparing after adjusting the salt levels to balance. The difference is about half a teaspoon of salt for a 15-oz can of beans, IIRC.

[redbird]

I don't think that's what we were reacting to. My notes (from back in Washington) are

"Canned black beans: Safeway are crap; O Organics are acceptable but bland

"S&W canned white beans are iffy; Eden Organic navy beans are good."

[gatheringrivers]

I've been getting quite a few "house brand" from the local megamart, but I don't know who originally makes them.

I did have 2 pounds of Goya peas, but I'd already passed them off to someone else in the spring once I discovered they list "soy" in the ingredients (one of my no-go's).

Try "California Olive Grove" olive oil? Though check them out first. Up to now, my goal has been "avoid stuff that gives me pain".