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November 9, 2012 15 Comments

Food on Fridays: Always Sort the Beans

For the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe. We’re pretty relaxed over here, and stories and photos are as welcome as menus and recipes. When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the button to include with your post. It ties us together visually. Then fill in the boxes of this linky tool to join the fun!

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Food on Fridays with Ann

I often cook beans from scratch, and the instructions always say to first sort and rinse the beans, adding a warning like, “…Customers need to thoroughly sort any foreign material that may be present.”

For decades I’ve diligently sorted and rinsed bags of black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, pinto beans, split peas, and lentils, always on the lookout for something “foreign.”

For decades, I’ve spotted nothing but beans.

Until this past week.

Nestled among the garbanzo beans, hidden in the shadows: a pebble.

A rather large pebble capable of chipping a molar.

I’m sure there’s a deeper analogy here, a metaphor, or a lesson learned. But I’m not sure what it is.

For now, let this sinister, dark pebble serve as a reminder to—first and foremost, without fail—always sort the beans.

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Filed Under: Food on Fridays

Comments

  1. Janis@Open My Ears Lord says

    November 9, 2012 at 1:50 am

    Hi Ann,
    I’ve started back to blogging so I submitted a post and then threw in a recipe just so it would qualify:) Good to be here again.
    Janis

    Reply
    • annkroeker says

      November 10, 2012 at 12:56 am

      Yay! Welcome back!

      Reply
  2. April @ The 21st Century Housewife says

    November 9, 2012 at 6:24 am

    Wow, that is a heck of a pebble! Good thing you did always sort through the beans!! I know sometimes when it says to rinse barley here I think, do I really need to do that? But I’m glad now that I do!! This week I’ve shared an Apricot and Almond Chicken recipe that is easy but good enough for company. Thank you for hosting, and have a lovely weekend!

    Reply
    • annkroeker says

      November 10, 2012 at 12:58 am

      Thank you for dropping by and sharing your Apricot and Almond Chicken!

      Reply
  3. 'Becca says

    November 9, 2012 at 12:45 pm

    A few weeks ago I got a pebble in my burrito at Qdoba! I guess they had a lapse in bean-sorting. I remember this happening to my dad about 30 years ago with the baked beans in a restaurant, too. Apparently bean-picking machines sometimes pick up other objects of similar shape and size.

    Reply
    • annkroeker says

      November 10, 2012 at 12:58 am

      Ouch! I’m glad you didn’t break a tooth (I’m assuming you didn’t, or you would have mentioned it?).

      Reply
  4. Hazel Moon says

    November 9, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    Wow, my mom always discovered pebbles in our bags of beans and it was a good thing to always sort. I even look through my rice just in case. There is a spiritual lesson here too, as we sort through the things we do and accept – – look closely for something foreign that should not be there and give it a toss!

    Reply
    • annkroeker says

      November 10, 2012 at 12:59 am

      I’m going to look through all of it–and I’m glad to hear your take on the spiritual dimension!

      Reply
  5. Sandra Heska King says

    November 9, 2012 at 9:35 pm

    Yikes. I’ve always rinsed them in a strainer. Period. No more.

    Reply
    • annkroeker says

      November 10, 2012 at 1:00 am

      We must be on guard, apparently. I had rinsed these and then when I cooked them, I happened to use a really big pot and they were in one layer at the bottom, making it easier to see the errant “pebble.”

      Reply
  6. Mom says

    November 9, 2012 at 10:33 pm

    Once in a while those hard little “pebbles” dissolve in the soaking water!

    Reply
    • annkroeker says

      November 10, 2012 at 1:00 am

      So are you saying that the “pebble” might be a dirt clod?

      Reply
  7. Mom says

    November 10, 2012 at 5:20 pm

    Yep! But then again, sometimes a pebble is just a pebble!

    Reply
  8. Mom says

    November 10, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    Oh, and sometimes it’s a dirty pebble!

    Reply
  9. diana bridgman says

    November 13, 2012 at 10:16 am

    When I was young, I loved to watch my mom “sorting” the dried beans before cooking. We spread them in a flat layer on the table, and pushed them four or five at a time into a colander. At some point, my mom made a joke that she was “counting” the beans. Having a young and very literal mind, I marveled for years that she took the time to “count” each bean to make sure she had just the right amount for our family. Of course, in the process of “counting”, she sorted out the tiny rocks too. Thanks Ann, for bringing back a precious and funny memory of childhood!!!

    Reply

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