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Compostin Tinned Veg

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Harry:
Here's an odd one...

Composting tinned veg (in veg oil / water emulsion)  ?????

I have about 50 large catering cans of tinned Friarielli (turnip tops in sunflower oil) ( Actually it's mostly water ). They are way past sell by date*, but the environmentalist in me says 'compost the contents' and recycle the steel cans.

like this... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284902004012

Any upside or downside in emptying the contents onto my compost heap? They are ring-pull cans so it's no hardship.

Tinned Turnip Tops? I hear you say... Apparently an expensive delicacy not dissimilar to sauteed chard or spinach.

I can't sell it because of where it came from and I don't fancy eating it.

tricia:
I would compost them Harry, a couple of cans at a time mixed well in. I recently tipped a long out of date bottle of olive oil into my two compost bins after reading that it would act as a soil improver.

Tricia  :wave:

Paulh:
The advice is usually not to put cooked food (and raw meat) on a compost heap because it may attract rats. I'm not sure why peelings are OK but not the cooked vegetable! So adding a large quantity of tinned veg in fatty oil might not be a good idea, but smaller amounts stirred well in are probably OK unless there's a rat problem already.

Harry:

--- Quote from: tricia on January 27, 2024, 09:17:02 ---I would compost them Harry, a couple of cans at a time mixed well in. I recently tipped a long out of date bottle of olive oil into my two compost bins after reading that it would act as a soil improver.

Tricia  :wave:

--- End quote ---
I suppose the olive oil was my concern, not that it was cooked. I'm going to mix it in to my closed bins, bit by bit and see how it goes. Rats do visit, but c'est la vie, they are a site wide issue.

JanG:

--- Quote from: Paulh on January 27, 2024, 09:44:28 ---The advice is usually not to put cooked food (and raw meat) on a compost heap because it may attract rats. I'm not sure why peelings are OK but not the cooked vegetable! So adding a large quantity of tinned veg in fatty oil might not be a good idea, but smaller amounts stirred well in are probably OK unless there's a rat problem already.

--- End quote ---
I’m not convinced by the rat argument as in my experience rats happily eat raw food too. I know for sure that rats love, for example, raw apples, walnuts etc, so I think rats are likely to enjoy a compost heap anyway.

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