Ham and Bean Soup

[big casino]

the wife made some bean soup on sunday,  couple of ham hocks boiled down for stock and she used great northern beans and some onion and a couple slices of ham , and opf course salt pepper and some other spices, it was delicious put the left overs in the refrigerator, today we got it back out to put it in the slow cooker, the wife noticed it had kinda gotten bigger in size well kind of foamy and was almost spilling over the sides of the pot, but then she couldnt quite remember how full the pot was when she put it away,  so she put it in the slow cooker and as it started to heat up it foamed even more and  smelled kind of sour, and she wet her finger and tasted it and said it kind of had a "wine" taste to it..... needless to say we through it out, but I am curious has any one ever had this happen or does any one know what happened? I think it was fermenting but I'm not sure

 

[rdknb]

I wil be watching, as I have no idea how that would happen.

 

[smokinhusker]

Interested in finding out so will bump it!

 

[pit 4 brains]

Sounds like you got some wild yeast in there and it spoiled in the fridge.

 

[Dutch]

Hey Big Casino, did the wife break that soup down into smaller containers?  The reason I ask is way back when (about 20 years ago) when I was taking a 3 day food safety class, the instructor stressed the importance of breaking containers of soup down into smaller containers.  To prove his point, he took a stock pot of soup and placed it in into the walk-in and took another stock pot of soup and poured it into several smaller containers that were placed in ice filled hotel pans, allowed them to cool and then covered them with plastic wrap wrote the date on it and placed them into the walk in box. The temp of the walk in box was 35°

The next day he inserted thermometers into the small containers and the stock pot; the small containers were all at 35° and the soup in the stock pot was at 47° and had began to sour. May be this is what happened to your ham and bean soup?

 

[linguica]

I'm sure what Dutch said was your answer. Fermentation or yeast growth takes place in a pretty narrow temperature range...40 degF to

140 DegF. Lower than 40 it's dormant and higher than 130/140, it's dead. Put a thermometer on the front top shelf and take a Reading.

 

[woodcutter]

My wife made some chicken stew once and we did the same thing in the large container in the fridge. It started to foam the next day and I could see tiny bubbles coming out of it. Never knew what happened but the wild yeast sounds right.
 

 

[big casino]

Hey Big Casino, did the wife break that soup down into smaller containers?  The reason I ask is way back when (about 20 years ago) when I was taking a 3 day food safety class, the instructor stressed the importance of breaking containers of soup down into smaller containers.  To prove his point, he took a stock pot of soup and placed it in into the walk-in and took another stock pot of soup and poured it into several smaller containers that were placed in ice filled hotel pans, allowed them to cool and then covered them with plastic wrap wrote the date on it and placed them into the walk in box. The temp of the walk in box was 35°

The next day he inserted thermometers into the small containers and the stock pot; the small containers were all at 35° and the soup in the stock pot was at 47° and had began to sour. May be this is what happened to your ham and bean soup?

Thanks Dutch,

She did Not break it down into smaller containers, she left it the 3gallon stock pot she made it in, never saw this b4 but glad to know why this happened so it doesn't happen again.

I'm sure what Dutch said was your answer. Fermentation or yeast growth takes place in a pretty narrow temperature range...40 degF to

140 DegF. Lower than 40 it's dormant and higher than 130/140, it's dead. Put a thermometer on the front top shelf and take a Reading.

Thanks Linguica, we keep a thermometer in every fridge and freezer, and actually that one has two thermometers and they were at 38 degrees for curing it is possible tho that it could be getting above 40 degrees when the compressor isn't running, but every time we check it it was at 38 altho we did turn it down a smidgen after this just in case

 

[unionguynw]

What I do with soup if I don't want to break it down into smaller containers is fill the sink with ice water, put the pot in and stir every 5-10 minutes until it's cold.  Then it goes in the fridge.
 

 

[sigmo]

What I do with soup if I don't want to break it down into smaller containers is fill the sink with ice water, put the pot in and stir every 5-10 minutes until it's cold.  Then it goes in the fridge.
 

That's exactly what I do. I want it to chill down ASAP. You can get the temp down fast that way.

I often, then, put the soup or spaghetti sauce or whatever, in Ziploc bags and freeze it immediately. About 2 cups per bag so we can heat good servings easily later.

But if I'm putting that off, I can put the big pot into the fridge knowing that it's already entirely down below 40 before it ever hits the fridge.

I think chilling it rapidly is essential, and a big pot of something thick would stay warm in the middle for a long time in a fridge, particularly if not being stirred.

Phoned in.

 

[roller]

What I do with soup if I don't want to break it down into smaller containers is fill the sink with ice water, put the pot in and stir every 5-10 minutes until it's cold.  Then it goes in the fridge.
 

This is the best way....

 

[chef jimmyj]

I missed this the first time it was posted but you received accurate info. This is a common problem. Not only is there plenty of Yeast and Bacteria in the air but the unforeseen Tasters and Double Dippers. Cooling it down is the best way to avoid problems...JJ

 

[smokinhusker]

Thanks for the great answers. Do you know how many establishments I've worked in that just puts the big pot in the walk-in. Nice to know now!