10 Canned Goods Worth Using

Published on Thursday, May 7, 2009, by Aida Mollenkamp / Edit Post

10 Canned Goods Worth Using

No need to wait for the apocalypse

By Aida Mollenkamp

Beans: Garbanzos liven up a spring salad
Beans: Garbanzos liven up a spring salad.

Artichoke Hearts: Great for chicken casserole

Artichoke Hearts: Great for chicken casserole.

Coconut Milk: Use it in farro-mango porridge

Coconut Milk: Use it in farro-mango porridge.

Bad reputations are hard to escape—just ask Lindsay Lohan. A generation of people, emotionally damaged by metallic-tasting corn kernels and mushy asparagus, recoil at the thought of wan canned veggies. But there are plenty of foods that come out of a can fresh and delicious (and, in the case of beans, save you cooking time). Here are 10 canned foods that you can take out of the bomb shelter and display proudly on your pantry shelf.

1. Tomato Paste. Cans or tubes, both are good. It’s useful as the base for anything from pot roast to bisque. And if those cans are too big, just freeze the leftovers.

2. Tomatoes. In-season tomatoes are a breed apart, perfect for no-cook preparations like salads. Any other time of year, we turn to canned tomatoes—whole, diced, crushed, or puréed—for soups, sauces, and slow-cooked meals.

3. Beans. Many types of beans survive canning well, and opening a can is much quicker than soaking and cooking dried beans. Of all the legumes, cannellini, garbanzos, pintos, and kidneys do the best. Sadly, we have yet to find a good canned black bean.

4. Hearts of Palm. We’ve never seen hearts of palm sold any other way, and that’s likely because they’re very hard to prepare. Drain, rinse, and slice for a quick addition to a salad.

5. Water Chestnuts. It’s hard to find whole fresh water chestnuts outside of Asian markets, but canned versions are readily available. We like the crunch and subtle nutty flavor they lend to dishes.

6. Artichoke Hearts. All the flavor of artichokes without the hassle of preparation. Try them in dips, casseroles, or pretty much any other cooked preparation.

7. Lychees. Depending on where you live, lychees can be pretty hard to come by. And even if you do come across them, it can be a pain to get them out of their pesky shells. But the real reason we’re into canned lychees is that they come packed in a delicious syrup that’s particularly useful in cocktails.

8. Pickled Jalapeños. Some spice-lovers wouldn’t bother to eat a taco without a handful of pickled jalapeños. Though making them yourself is supereasy, there’s no shame in picking up a can at the supermarket.

9. Coconut Milk. Its rich, creamy flavor is a necessity in Thai soups, but it also adds a comforting note to breakfast dishes like this porridge. Look for lower-fat versions for a healthier alternative.

10. Tuna. Oil-packed tuna is an affordable indulgence that adds instant flavor and complexity to almost any recipe. Our favorite is the Ortiz brand from Spain; it has superior texture and taste without any fishiness.

CHOW’s The Ten column appears every Tuesday.
Aida Mollenkamp is a food editor at CHOW.

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POST A COMMENT |23 Comments

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  • Canned Thai curry pastes--Maesri brand in very small cans, from Asian markets. All I've had are good-red, green, yellow, Penang, Massaman--haven't tried them all! Half a can (I freeze the rest in a little plastic container) of one of these, a can of coconut milk, odds and ends from the refrigerator and voila!--dinner for 2. Caution--if pepper heat is an issue you would want to use the curry paste...+READ

    Canned Thai curry pastes--Maesri brand in very small cans, from Asian markets. All I've had are good-red, green, yellow, Penang, Massaman--haven't tried them all! Half a can (I freeze the rest in a little plastic container) of one of these, a can of coconut milk, odds and ends from the refrigerator and voila!--dinner for 2. Caution--if pepper heat is an issue you would want to use the curry paste sparingly.-COLLAPSE

  • msn just had article on 10 worst foods. #1 canned tomatoes because of bpa, endocrinologist said he would never eat. has been one of my staples, will have to rethink. jars ARE OK.
    I thought the water bottle thing was overdone but I hate that bpa is so ubiquitous.

  • Agree with most of this, but canned water chestnuts taste metallic to me.

    Canned bamboo shoots, on the other hand, hold up well.

    And you're right that not all beans stand up to canning - black beans need to be prepared from dried, and canned lentils are really inferior. Lentils cook quickly, so use the dried ones!

  • Nestra, try this recipe with Lite coconut milk.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/dining/221mrex.html

  • I am glad o see coconut milk on this list. Though high in fat, it does lend a distinct and uniquely creamy flavor to more than just Asian dishes and desserts.

  • wolfe - if you don't want to spend the $7 on Ortiz you can get very close with Pastene for about $2.50. Still lots better than Bumble Bee.

  • My wife agrees on the Ortiz but at about $7.00 per single serving can she gets the Ortiz and I get the Bumble Bee.

  • No good canned black beans? Try Goya, they're quite good, even better with a little fresh ground pepper and cumin added.

  • Totally agree with you on the entire list.

  • uh people there is no argument that fresh is better ,but this is about canned foods ,

  • Ugh. Never use canned water chestnuts. They have no flavor. Actually they do, they taste like a tin can.

    Fresh are a world apart. if you can get yourself to an Asian market, you can get them very easily. Just wash, peel and slice.

    Canned lychees are also no substitute for the real deal. They taste nothing alike. The former tastes like sugar syrup, the texture becomes leathery and strange. The...+READ

    Ugh. Never use canned water chestnuts. They have no flavor. Actually they do, they taste like a tin can.

    Fresh are a world apart. if you can get yourself to an Asian market, you can get them very easily. Just wash, peel and slice.

    Canned lychees are also no substitute for the real deal. They taste nothing alike. The former tastes like sugar syrup, the texture becomes leathery and strange. The latter tastes like a fresh fruit. And BAH on the hard to peel part. Lychees are far easier than say an apple or an orange to peel.-COLLAPSE

  • If you can find frozen artichoke hearts, use them over canned artichokes. They're far tastier and lack that distinct metallic taste that seems to plague canned ones.

  • I've had good black beans from Eden Organics. Yep, they cost more (though I've found good deals), but they have no salt added so you don't have to rinse them, and brooke, they have a special non-BPA lining.

    As for jars, I like having jars of fire-roasted (skinned) red peppers. They aren't hard to make, but it takes time, and they are handy to have around.

  • Chipotle peppers in adobo.

  • Are we counting jars as "canned foods"?
    I have to say
    almost anything you can put into a can,
    would taste better out of a jar.

  • Not really "canned" so much as "tubed" but the tubes of herbs you can buy are great to have around. They last forever, so I always have lemongrass or ginger when a recipe calls or it without a special purchase. I haven't tried any of the green herbs like basil or cilantro, but the lemongrass, garlic, and ginger varieties are awesome.

  • I'm particularly glad that bamboo shoots didn't make the list.

  • #1 on my list is Anchovies or Anchovy Paste. Also, canned Asparagus for some reason served cold has always had a special place for me. Maybe because i never had fresh until my late teens. Like tuna, it should be regarded as a separate food from fresh.

  • i think it's important to note possible BPA toxicity in canned foods, see link:
    http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/bpa-danger-from-cans.php

  • Fresh water chestnuts are noticeably sweeter than canned. In larger metro areas they aren't that hard to find, especially in large Asian oriented groceries. But using them requires good paring knife skills, and how ever carefully I select them, about a quarter end up being rotten. I end up treating them like fresh fruit - peel and eat right away; none end up being cooked.

  • Great list. I totally agree. I do have access to fresh water chestnuts. At least I think they are water chestnuts. I might just do a taste test with my my turkey lettuce cups and spinach dip- my two best water chestnut dishes.

  • That's true; you should regard canned tuna and fresh tuna as two different foods. They are as separate and distinct as a cucumber and a kosher dill pickle.

  • I agree with most of the list, but if you have never tasted a fresh lychee you haven't lived. And it's no more trouble to peel than an orange. Sadly I'm allergic to them, but manage to cheat one or two at the beginning of the season.

    And certainly canned tuna is a great thing for some dishes, but not for others. No way does a can of tuna equal a fresh tuna steak, seared, blackened, whatever.