How do I convert from BLOB to TEXT in MySQL?

That's unnecessary. Just use SELECT CONVERT(column USING utf8) FROM..... instead of just SELECT column FROM...

Here's an example of a person who wants to convert a blob to char(1000) with UTF-8 encoding:

CAST(a.ar_options AS CHAR(10000) CHARACTER SET utf8)

This is his answer. There is probably much more you can read about CAST right here. I hope it helps some.

I have had the same problem, and here is my solution:

1. create new columns of type text in the table for each blob column
2. convert all the blobs to text and save them in the new columns
3. remove the blob columns
4. rename the new columns to the names of the removed ones

ALTER TABLE mytable
ADD COLUMN field1_new TEXT NOT NULL,
ADD COLUMN field2_new TEXT NOT NULL;

update mytable set
field1_new = CONVERT(field1 USING utf8),
field2_new = CONVERT(field2 USING utf8);

alter table mytable
drop column field1,
drop column field2;

alter table mytable
change column field1_new field1 text,
change column field2_new field2 text;

If you are using MYSQL-WORKBENCH, then you can select blob column normally and right click on column and click open value in editor. refer screenshot: