Shelf life of beans

[dale]

Hello all. I purchased a large bag of French Green Lentils a few months ago. Now, instead of having the deep green color, some of the beans are a whitish color. Does this mean the beans have gone bad or is it natural? Thanks!

Dale

[garymill]

Hi Dale,

I have not run into this problem myself. According to a govemrment report, shelf life should be a year on lentils.

http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humani.../fslentils.pdf

Hope this helps,

Gary

[Bruce Paine]

Dale, Gary,

According to Natalie and Shirley Nigro, authors of the Companion Guide to Healthy Cooking:A Practical Guide to Natural Ingredients
http://www.the-nigros.com/notes/cghc/index.html "...dried beans should be stored in airtight containers in a cool dry place. They may be stored 6 to twelve months this way, provided they were fresh when you bought them. Dried beans age over time and the longer they are stored the longer they take to reconstitute through soaking and cooking. If kept too long they may remain tough even after cooking. Beans bought at different times should not be mixed together when stored. They should be labled with the date of purchase so the oldest beans can be used first..."

I would dampen the beans to see if the color might be restored to them, and try cooking a small batch to see how they turn out.

How do you cook your lentils?

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[dale]

Bruce, Gary,

Thanks for the info. I started looking at the beans more closely and it appears that the dark green "skin" has just rubbed off some of the beans. I keep a canning jar full in the pantry and store the rest in the refrigerator. I'll try some tonight and see how they come out.

I normally boil them with some kombu and onion. I like the flavor of the french green lentils better than regular green lentils. It reminds me of Campbell's vegetable soup I used to eat as a kid. Thanks again for the info.

Dale