COMMEKCIAL CANNIlSrCT OF FOODS. 77 



specialties and soups. 



Beans, Baked. 



Pork and beans, beans and tomato sauce, and baked beans are the ways which the 

 labels read on the product which a few years ago was known only as "baked beans." 

 The beans used for this purpose are the small white pea or navy bean. They are 

 chiefly grown in New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin and are a regular field crop, 

 sowed, cultivated and hars^ested when ripe and used only in the fully ripe dried state. 

 The quantitj- used in this way is enormous. 



The beans should be of good quality, small, white, machine cleaned, and hand 

 picked for defects. The fii-st step in preparation is soaking, and this is done in tanks 

 or barrels and lasts from 12 to 24 hoiu-s, depending upon the method of handling. 

 The water is changed in the tank about once in 6 hours, or, on the fancy article, about 

 once in 4 hom-s. 



From this point on the preparation varies greatly in different factories. For the 

 ven,' cheap trade the beans are boiled in a squirrel cage or pea blancher for a few 

 minutes before placing them in the can; others boil them very slowly in an iron- 

 jacketed kettle from 30 minutes to 3 hom-s before canning. Some boil them just 

 long enough to slip the skin, the length of time depending wholly upon the grade of 

 the bean. 



Before the cans are filled, a piece of pork is placed in the can, then the beans, and 

 finally the sauce. The sauce varies greatly, though tomato sauce is the most popular 

 at present. This is made from a good heavy pulp, salt, sugar, and spices, the propor- 

 tions being varied to suit the fancy of the packer. Plain sauce is made with water, 

 salt, sugar, molasses, and spice. It is important that just the proper quantity of 

 sauce be added, for in the processing some moisture ^vill be taken up by the beans, 

 and if too little sauce or moisture is added they will be dry and hard, while if an excess 

 be added they will be sloppy. 



In these methods there is no real baking, the beans having been soaked and boiled. 

 They are subsequently heated in the can at a baking temperature, but no moisture 

 can escape, and baking generally implies that the material is subjected to dry heat, 

 usually in an oven. The real characteristic is the change in and breaking up of the 

 tissues with loss of weight, due to the escape of moisture. Formerly baking was done 

 under hot ashes or coals, in clay or brick ovens; now it is done in stoves and special 

 ovens, and the latter may be heated by steam. The same results may be accom- 

 plishes! in superheated steam as in hot air. The difference between baking and 

 roasting is not always clear, but between baking and boiling there is a distinction. 

 The term "baked" beans, therefore, implies that they have been exposed to a dry 

 heat. This is accomplished by heating the soaked beans for a short time, until they 

 soften but do not break open or become mushy. They are then placed in large pans 

 in thin layers and allowed to bake in ovens until they become diy and mealy and 

 develop the chararteristic: brown color. The beans, when poured upon the filling 

 table, will readily separate from one another. Another method is to place the beans 

 in large trays in the ret^jrt and subject them to dry steam until d)y and mealy. The 

 re«ult is almost the name a-s in the oven — a loss of about 8 per cent in weight taking 

 pbue and giving the same dry baked bean. These are fillfd in the can and sauced, 

 an haa already been described. 



The prorc-Hsing of bean.s will depend altogether upon th(! method of ))reparation, 

 UHually from 1 hour to 2^ hours for a No. 2 <an, at a temporal un; of from 215'^ to 250° l'\ 



Tliere is probably no Hfa|>le canned which presentH more variety in quality and 

 flavor than the bean. The bcfst is a high-grade product, tlnr beans used are expen- 

 «iv«', and the drc^Hsing, if made of t<^)mato, is good pulj), the same care being given in 

 tUi prejKiration aw Ih uwmI in i»reparing any other. Not ho much <'an be said for some 

 of the very f-heap brandw; the beans used are inferior, th(! pulp used is from trimming 

 Mt/M-k, and the obje<-t is Ut get an much water in the can a^ [)On«ible. The net weight 

 of b«ain« in a No. 2 can Hhould be not !«*) than 11) ounccH. 



