30 BULLETIN 1084, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



Wax beans are handled in the same manner. Lima beans are shelled 

 and packed both green and ripe. The beans are graded for size 

 by sieves. The Navy bean is the one most generally used in packing 

 pork and beans. The Red Kidney bean is packed either plain or with 

 tomato sauce. In general, beans are canned in the following four 

 ways : With pork and tomato sauce ; without pork and with tomato 

 sauce; with pork and plain sauce; without pork and with plain 

 sauce. 



Usually beans are put up in at least three grades. Inspectors 

 should give attention to the variety canned and check this up with 

 the labels in use. There has been a tendency on the part of some 

 canners to use the names of varieties which are in much demand 

 for cans in which other varieties are packed. This has been par- 

 ticularly true of Red Kidney beans. Attention should be given also 

 to the labeling of baked beans. Beans cooked by steam in cans 

 should not be labeled " Baked beans." 



A large proportion of the green Lima bean pack of the United 

 States is grown and canned in New Jersey. The small Lima beans 

 from the Bush Lima are used exclusively in four canneries which put 

 up probably from 75 to 85 per cent of the entire pack in the United 

 States. The procedure and machinery used in canning Lima beans 

 are almost identical with those used in canning peas. The outline 

 on pages 18 to 20 of this bulletin may be followed with little or no 

 change. 



After the Bush Lima bean vines are harvested, the beans are 

 beaten out in a pea viner. The harvesting is done when the beans 

 reach the stage of maturity at which the canner, who usually grows 

 most of the beans he packs, believes he will get the greatest return 

 from his crop. This is the condition when some of the beans are 

 small and immature while others on the same or adjacent plants 

 are so mature as to be white. As a result the shelled beans are a 

 mixture of green and white beans. The beans are cleaned, washed, 

 and graded into two or three sizes as described on page 33. Some 

 canneries put up a portion of their pack as " field run," but all make 

 an attempt to separate them. In some plants the separation is done 

 imperfectly in a mechanical brine separator such as is used in pea 

 canneries. This separator is not entirely satisfactory, but it reduces 

 the quantity of whites to be removed by hand. In other plants the 

 separation of whites is done entirely by hand picking. 



The cleaned beans are blanched in hot water, then rinsed with 

 cold water, and filled into the cans by machinery. The small green 

 Lima beans require great care and attention to detail during the 

 process in order to make sure that the cans shall be entirely full 

 of beans and brine and the two so proportioned that the beans are 

 just covered by a clear, transparent brine. Since beans of varying 



