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Sarah Schmalbruch
- We tried four brands of canned green beans.
- The brands we sampled wereGreen Giant, Del Monte, Libby's, and Krasdale.
- Krasdale was the cheapest, but also tasted the most canned, so it came in last place.
- Libby's came in first place because its beans tasted the most fresh.
Canned vegetables get a bad rap.
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But if you buy the right brand andgive them a little TLC — i.e. seasoning —they're actually not bad. And if you're making a bunch of sides for Thanksgiving, they can be a huge time saver.
As part of an ongoing INSIDER taste test series, we pitted four common brands of canned green beans against each other to see which one tasted the most like fresh vegetables. In the past, we've tested everything from cheap wine to popcorn to pie crusts.
We bought all four brands atgrocery stores in New York City and paid anywhere from $1.09-$1.99 per can. All four were salted. The brands we sampled were:
- Krasdale
- Del Monte
- Libby's
- Green Giant
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We judged all the beans on two main criteria: taste and texture. Keep scrolling to see which one we thoughtwouldbe appetizing to even the most stubborn of veggie haters.
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I love vegetables, but green beans are probably my least favorite in the category. So rest assured I was a harsh critic when it came to this test.
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In order to keep things consistent and simple, I tasted the green beans in their truest form — straight from the can, with no additions or seasoning. I started with the store brand, which was the cheapest of the bunch.
I'm the kind of person who would rather have their green beans a little too crunchy than toosoft (who isn't this kind of person?).
Much to my dismay, Krasdale's beans were pretty soft. There wasn't much texture to them; in fact, they were slightly mushy. Plus, they just tasted canned.It was the kind of taste I'm not sure you could season away.
Price: $1.09
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Coming off of that letdown, I moved on in hopes that the good old Green Giant would restore my faith in vegetables. And it did.
The Green Giant's green beans were a vast improvement from Krasdale's. They were firmer and had a fresher taste. They were 70 cents more expensive, but worth every extra penny.
Price: $1.79
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While all four brands of beans I bought were salted, Del Monte was the only brand that prominently displayed "with natural sea salt" on the front of its can.
It's good that Del Monte advertises its use of sea salt because the brand would be doing consumers a disservice if they didn't — the saltiness came through on the first bite.
The heavy salt flavor overpowered the fresh taste that I expect to find when eating vegetables. Del Monte's beans were fine otherwise; they hadthe same relatively firm texture as the Green Giant, but they needed to cut back on the salt.
Price: $1.99
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Who knew that Libby's sold green beans? I thought the brand was pretty much limited to canned pumpkin. Turns out, I didn't know what I had been missing.
Libby'swas a noticeable step above the other brands. The green beans weren't as salty, but they managed to avoid being too bland, too. They wereas close as canned green beans can get to being crunchy, and, best of all, they didn't taste like they were coming from a can.
Pricewise, they werethe second cheapest ofthe bunch.
Price: $1.49
Libby's was the clear winner in this contest. Unfortunately, we didn't feel there was any way to disguise Krasdale's beans' canned origins.
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Most people don't want canned vegetables to taste like they're canned. Out of all four brands we tried, Libby's was the most successful in achieving this near-fresh taste.
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