Something wrong with my soaked beans

[dragonlaurel]

This question is probably for Freemotion or one of the other Nourishing Traditions crew.

This bag of beans had started with lots of dried on dirt, but I had rinsed them till they seemed clean and the rinse water was finally running clear.
Then soaked them in tap water and whey from live culture yogurt. Thought everything was going fine, but when I took the lid off they had a very thick layer of white foam and it really stunk! Not the smell of slight fermentation.

I rinsed them many times so my kitchen wouldn't stink. But I'm afraid to even try cooking them now in case it got some kind of toxic bacteria contamination. Should I start over with different beans?

 

[Mackay]

sounds like your whey really took off and cultured... and it would be a smelly affair.

I would not worry about it. Your gonna cook the heck out of them anyway.

Why did you use whey?

I put 4 drops of lugols iodine in my bean water when soaking. It breaks down the enzyme that makes gas... sure enough .... not one toot out of anybody who ate those beans.

 

[dragonlaurel]

I read some of the Nourishing Traditions website and they said it makes them more digestible. I've tried it once before, but this time smelled way worse.
Haven't tried the iodine in them but I actually like to use sea salt mixed with kelp instead of normal salt. I enjoy the different seaweeds too, when I can get them.

 

[Wifezilla]

Whey is full of good bacteria...the strain you want to make the beans more digestible, reduce phytates, etc....

You may have had a weird strain of bacteria get a head start on the one you wanted. If it were me, I might either dump them or rinse really well and soak with a new dose of whey.

It all depends on how bad the smell was

 

[dragonlaurel]

I think it was contaminated. I've eaten lots of beans for the last 20 years, and those were some of the dirtiest I've ever seen. Still pretty new at lacto-fermenting, but this seems wrong. I guess they are going bye-bye.

 

[freemotion]

Sorry I'm late!! Better late than never, right?

Yep, I'd toss 'em. I've fermented a lot of stuff, beans included, and it should smell GOOD not nasty. I'm willing to bet your beans were planted near a pig factory farm or something and had dangerous bacteria on them. Things fermented with whey should smell slightly yogurt-y or cheesy, depending on the whey. Fermenting without whey, they will still smell yogurty but it generally takes more than a day for that. Then they go through that stage and smell a bit more sour, as ferments do, but still an edible sour. That takes several days, depending on the temp.

Something really bad got into those beans. When fermenting, trust your nose....the nose knows!

 

[dragonlaurel]

They smelled so bad, I poured the beans into a gallon freezer bag, to trap the smell. I didn't even want to compost these. Thanks for confirming my instincts about them.

 

[Rebecka]

When in doubt throw it out I am late too, but I absolutely agree that you did the right thing. Trust your nose, eyes, and gut. If you feel its bad, it likely is and if you were wrong.. well, nobody knows

I just put 16 quarts of ham and beans in the burn barrel because I didn't like the way the looked in the jars. There was something wrong and while I am pretty brave with canning.. its not worth killing someone over.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Rebecka- I haven't done much canning, but medical bills cost way more than almost any batch of food. You protected yourself and your family.

Thanks everybody.