COMMERCIAL CANNING OF FOODS. VA 
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 harvested when ripe and used only in the fully ripe dried state. 
The quantity used in this way is enormous. 
The beans should be of good quality, small, white, machine cleaned, and hand 
picked for defects. The first step in preparation is soaking, and this is done in tanks 
or barrels and lasts from 12 to 24 hours, 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 hours. . 
From this point on the preparation varies greatly in different factories. For the 
very 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 hours 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 will 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- 
plished 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 dry and mealy and 
develop the characteristic 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 retort and subject them to dry steam until dry and mealy. The 
result is almost the same as in the oven—a loss of about 8 per cent in weight taking 
place and giving the same dry baked bean. These are filled in the can and sauced, 
as has already been described. 
The processing of beans will depend altogether upon the method of preparation, 
usually from | hour to 24 hours for a No. 2 can, at a temperature of from 245° to 250° F. 
There is probably no staple canned which presents more variety in quality and 
flavor than the bean. The best is a high-grade product, the beans used are expen- 
sive, and the dressing, if made of tomato, is good pulp, the same care being given in 
its preparation as is used in preparing any other. Not so muck can be said for some 
of the very cheap brands; the beans used are inferior, the pulp used is from trimming 
stock, and the object is to get as much water in the can as possible. The net weight 
of beans in a No. 2 can should be not less than 19 ounces. 
