let's play: What's in my tuna?

[tommy]

i opened a can of tuna to find little white balls all over the top. i'm assuming that it's congealed fat (tuna packed in oil), as i keep the cans in the fridge. but they seem too perfect. this happened once before as well. i ate it then. this time i didn't. any ideas?

[vengroff]

Do they melt easily, as fat would?

[ranitidine]

this happened once before as well.  i ate it then.

So that explains it.

[tommy]

Do they melt easily, as fat would?

i didn't really do much experimentation with them!

[Suzanne F]

(to ranitidine)

Seriously, though -- yeah, it's probably just globs of oil. That's tuna in olive oil, right? I notice that I get similar little globules in jars of home-roasted peppers in olive oil, and jars of the oil I drain off from roast garlic. I don't worry about it. But now I know another reason not to keep my tuna in oil in the fridge; water-packed is okay, though.

[Adam Balic]

i opened a can of tuna to find little white balls all over the top.  i'm assuming that it's congealed fat (tuna packed in oil), as i keep the cans in the fridge.  but they seem too perfect.  this happened once before as well.  i ate it then.  this time i didn't.  any ideas?

Why do you keep cans of tuna in the fridge?

[J Acord]

It's fat.

You also get them in anchovies packed in oil when the oil becomes too cold.

They do cause you to stop and think for a second though

[Adam Balic]

Only if you are some type of canned-fish-refridgerating-freak.

[IrishCream]

Am I the only one who has 5+ year old cans of sardines in my pantry? I turn them periodically, but never thought to chill them. I don't chill any canned food except maybe V-8 juice. Should I?

[tommy]

i keep cans of tuna in the fridge because i don't like room-temp tuna. nothing more, nothing less.

although i like those little fat blobules even less.

[Double 0]

Check out cans of salmon you'll see the same thing.

[tommy]

Check out cans of salmon you'll see the same thing.

i think i'll pass. but thanks double o.

[Double 0]

Am I the only one who has 5+ year old cans of sardines in my pantry?  I turn them periodically, but never thought to chill them.  I don't chill any canned food except maybe V-8 juice.  Should I?

I'd probably get rid of it. If it doesn't get you sick, it isn't going to have any taste left.

[Double 0]

i think i'll pass.  but thanks double o. 

I know you pass on on capitals but its 0 not O

[tommy]

i think i'll pass.  but thanks double o. 

I know you pass on on capitals but its 0 not O

oh.

[Adam Balic]

Am I the only one who has 5+ year old cans of sardines in my pantry?  I turn them periodically, but never thought to chill them.  I don't chill any canned food except maybe V-8 juice.  Should I?  

I'd probably get rid of it. If it doesn't get you sick, it isn't going to have any taste left.

Why would storage of sardines for 5+ years have the effect of removing all flavour from them?

[Wilfrid]

What could anyone have against room temperature tuna?

[tommy]

What could anyone have against room temperature tuna?

the temperature.

[Wilfrid]

Are you pregnant?

[tommy]

Are you pregnant?

some people are temperature sensitive.

[Suzanne F]

I read somewhere that canned sardines improve with age. That there are secret societies of sardine-can keepers, who maintain private lists of which brands are best at what age. All very esoteric. No, I am NOT making this up. I just can't remember where I read it.

So what if you've got 5+-year-old cans? My storage philosophy is, if it ain't bulging, it's staying. Of course, if it looks or smells weird when I open it, THAT'S when it gets dumped.

[Adam Balic]

Dude, they are canned sardines, they all look and smell weird. . However, I once opened a can of sardines that had one fish in it, now that was very weird and not a little creepy. A large can of oil and one sardine. In my mind I think of it as the "evil-born-of-a-jackal" sardine. Just isn't right, sardines individually canned.

[Wilfrid]

And it makes nonsense of the useful phrase, " like sardines in a can".

[Adam Balic]

Exactly. SARDINE OF EVIL

[Wilfrid]

"Once upon a time there were some little white balls

Very sad, because they were some little white balls

(Little white balls)"