baked beans#Health

{{Infobox food

| name = Baked beans

| image = Baked beans in tomato sauce.jpg

| caption = Baked beans in tomato sauce

| alternate_name =

| country = United States

| region = New England

| national_cuisine =

| year =

| mintime =

| maxtime =

| type =

| course =

| served = Heated or room temperature

| main_ingredient = White common beans (usually navy beans)

| variations =

| serving_size = 100 g

| calories =

| protein =

| fat =

| carbohydrate =

| glycemic_index =

| similar_dish = Fèves au lard, refried beans

| other =

}}

Baked beans is a dish traditionally containing white common beans that are parboiled and then baked in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period.{{cite book|title=Beans: A History|author=Ken Alba|year=2007|location=London|publisher=Oxford International Publishers}} Canned baked beans are not baked, but are cooked through a steam process.{{cite news|url=https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/food/698320/BBC-s-Behind-the-Factory-baked-beans-heinz-production-secrets|title=How are your baked beans REALLY made? Behind the scenes footage at a factory reveals ALL|last=O'Callaghan|first=Lauren|work=Daily Express|date=9 August 2016|access-date=10 April 2025}}

Canned baked beans are commonly made using navy beans, which originated in Peru.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fL1GDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22navy+bean%22+%22Peru%22&pg=PA176|first=Victoria|last= Merrett|title=Super Grains: Seeds, Pulses, Legumes & Nuts|date=24 June 2015 |isbn=9780785832164|publisher=Chartwell Books|page=176}} In New England, various indigenous legumes are used, such as Jacob's cattle, soldier beans, yellow-eyed beans, and navy beans (also known as haricot beans).

In the 21st century, baked beans are consumed alongside barbecue foods and at picnics. Beans in a brown sugar, sugar, or corn syrup sauce (with or without tomatoes) are widely available in many countries. Kraft Heinz is the largest manufacturer of canned baked beans in Europe,{{cite web |last=Addy |first=Ron |title=Kraft Heinz invests £20m in Wigan plant |url=https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2018/08/10/Kraft-Heinz-invests-20m-in-Wigan-site/ |publisher=Food Manufacture |access-date=19 May 2025 |date=18 August 2018}} while Bush Brothers is the largest producer in the United States.{{cite news|url=https://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2012/01/25/Heinz-brings-beans-back-to-U-S/stories/201201250251|title=Heinz brings beans back to U.S.|author=Teresa F. Lindeman|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=25 January 2012}} After the American Revolutionary War, Independence Day celebrations often included baked beans.{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Andrew F. |title=Food and Drink in American History: A "Full Course" Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |date=2013 |page=364}}

Canned baked beans are used as a convenience food; most are made from navy beans in sauce. Traditionally served hot, they may be eaten hot or cold, and straight from the can, as they are fully cooked.{{Cite web|url=https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/550068b1e4b0982f45451d04/1425105|title=GuardianWitness – Cold Baked Beans salad|website=The GuardianWitness|access-date=2017-10-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002070632/https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/550068b1e4b0982f45451d04/1425105|archive-date=2 October 2017|url-status=dead}} H. J. Heinz began producing canned baked beans in 1886. In the early 20th century, canned baked beans gained more widespread use, particularly in the United Kingdom, where they are commonly served in a full breakfast.

Origin

File:beanpots.jpg baked beans. The small one is glazed with the letters "Boston Baked Beans".]]

The origins of baked beans are traced to the first peoples of the Americas who began preparing beans using the method of soaking and baking them during ancient history. Evidence of preparing beans in this manner date back to c. 1500 BC in the Maya civilization.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QIFTVWJH3doC&dq=%22baked+beans%22+%22native+american%22&pg=PA31|chapter=Beans|title=Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions to the World: 15,000 Years of Inventions and Innovations|first1= Emory Dean|last1= Keoke|first2= Kay Marie|last2= Porterfield|year= 2009|isbn=9781438109909|publisher=Facts On File|page=31}} Beans, often prepared with peas and pork, are among the longest-established English recipes, and English colonisers brought the dish to North America.

In the northeast of America various Native American peoples, including the Iroquois, the Narragansett and the Penobscot,{{Cite web |title=The secret history of baked beans |url=https://www.lovefood.com/galleries/97568/the-secret-history-of-baked-beans |access-date=2022-10-16 |website=lovefood.com |language=en}} mixed beans, maple sugar, and bear fat in earthenware pots which they placed in pits called "bean holes" which were lined in hot rocks to cook slowly over a long period of time.{{cite web|url=https://umaine.edu/folklife/history-of-bean-hole-beans/|title=History of Bean-Hole Beans|access-date=April 15, 2025|author=Maine Folklife Center|publisher=University of Maine}}{{cite book|year=1999|title=City Tavern Cookbook: 200 years of Classic Recipes from America's First Gourmet Restaurant|author=Walter Staib|page=115|publisher=Running Press|location=London}}{{Cite web|title=Common Grounds Bean Hole Beans|url=https://www.mofga.org/events/recipes/common-grounds-bean-hole-beans/|access-date=2021-09-03|website=Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners|language=en-US}} The bean hole cooking method later became a tradition in Maine that was practiced in logging camps where beans prepared in this way were served as every meal. A fire would be made in a stone-lined pit and allowed to burn down to hot coals, and then a pot with 11 pounds of seasoned beans would be placed in the ashes, covered over with dirt, and left to cook overnight or longer.{{cite web|url=http://www.mofga.org/Default.aspx?tabid=659 |title=Common Ground's Bean Hole Beans |website=Mofga.org |access-date=2 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307120218/http://www.mofga.org/Default.aspx?tabid=659 |archive-date=7 March 2013 }}

British colonists in New England were the first westerners to introduce their version of the dish to the area, and were quick to adapt the Native American version because it was very similar to pease pudding and because the dish used ingredients native to the New World.{{cite book|title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures: New England|page=xviii|editor=Michael Sletcher|location=London|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=2004}} They substituted molasses or sugar for the maple syrup, bacon or ham for the bear fat, and simmered their beans for hours in pots over the fire instead of underground. Each colony in America had its own regional variations of the dish, with navy or white pea beans used in Massachusetts, Jacob's Cattle and soldier beans used in Maine, and yellow-eyed beans in Vermont.{{cite book|title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures: New England|pages=233–235|editor=Michael Sletcher|location=London|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=2004}} This variation likely resulted from the colonists receiving the dish from different Native peoples who used different native beans.

While some historians have theorized that baked beans had originated from the cassoulet or bean stew tradition in Southern France, this is unlikely as the beans used to make baked beans are all native to North America and were introduced to Europe around 1528.{{Cite web|url=http://www.kidcyber.com.au/food-history-a-timeline/|title=Food History: A timeline|website=Kid Cyber|access-date=16 August 2016}} It is possible that English colonists used their knowledge of cassoulet cooking to modify the cooking technique of the beans from the traditional Native American version, by soaking the bean overnight and simmering the beans over a fire before baking it in earthen pots in order to decrease the cooking time.{{cite book|title=America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking|url=https://archive.org/details/americasfounding00stav|url-access=limited|author=Keith Stavely, Kathleen Fitzgerald|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americasfounding00stav/page/n63 51]–58|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2004|isbn=9780807828946 }} However, this method of soaking and boiling beans was already in practice in the Americas during the Mayan civilization, and was already a known method of preparing beans in the cultures of the first peoples of the Americas prior to European settlement.

A dish similar to baked beans, beans and bacon, was known in medieval England.{{Cite book |last=Brears |first=Peter |title=Cooking and Dining in Medieval England |publisher=Prospect Books |date=1 May 2012 |isbn=9781903018873|pages=260 |quote="Broad beans were a major field crop in medieval England. Presumably they were eaten fresh in July and August, being boiled with bacon as they were up to the mid-twentieth century." ,""Drawn beans cook as in the first recipe, adding a large onion and a pinch of saffron""}}{{cite news |author=Mark McWilliams |year=2012 |title=The Story behind the Dish: Classic American Foods: Classic American Foods |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Denver, Colorado |page=11 |isbn=9780313385100}}{{Cite book |last=Vogler |first=Penn |title=STUFFED: A HISTORY OF GOOD FOOD AND HARD TIMES IN BRITAIN |date=October 2024 |publisher=Atlantic Books |isbn=9781838955762}} The addition of onion and mustard to some baked beans recipes published in New England in the 19th century was likely based on traditional 17th century cassoulet recipes from Staffordshire, England, which utilized honey and mustard cured hams, beans, and onions or leeks. These ingredients are still often added to baked beans today. Nineteenth-century cookbooks published in New England, spread to other portions of the United States and Canada, which familiarized other people with the dish.

=== American origin story ===

The modern recipe for American baked beans originated in the late nineteenth century as part of an effort to create a story of a National cuisine descended from the time of the Pilgrim Fathers, when it was supposedly communicated to them by kindly natives. In reality, there is no evidence sweetened baked beans existed before the Victorian era and the recipe was influenced by sugar and molasses being newly available in abundance then.{{cite book |title=The Truth about Baked Beans: An Edible History of New England |first=Meg |last=Muckenhoupt |year=2020 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-1-4798-8276-2 |chapter=Introduction |pages=1–4}} Keith Stavely writes that there is no evidence that native Americans cooked beans using pots or holes in the ground, although it is possible that this method was employed, and so native bean preparation may have been an influence on American baked beans alongside the established English methods the settlers had brought.

Canned baked beans

File:Commoner lunch (Pilaki in a can).jpg

Canned beans, often containing pork, were among the first convenience foods, and were exported and popularized by U.S. companies internationally in the early 20th century. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated in 1996: "It has for years been recognized by consumers generally that the designation 'beans with pork,' or 'pork and beans' is the common or usual name for an article of commerce that contains very little pork." The included pork is typically a piece of salt pork that adds fat to the dish.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06EEDA113BF932A35757C0A96E958260 |work=The New York Times|title=That's What and Beans? Pork Defends Its Image|date= 1 April 1998}}

The first mass-produced commercial canning of baked beans in the United States began in 1895 by the Pennsylvania-based H. J. Heinz Company. Heinz was also the first company to sell baked beans outside of the United States, beginning with sales limited solely to Fortnum & Mason in 1886, when the item was considered a luxury.{{cite web|url=https://www.fortnumandmason.com/information/our-history|title=Fortnum's History|work=Fortnum & Mason|access-date=11 September 2019}} They began selling baked beans throughout the UK in 1901, and baked beans became a standard part of the English full breakfast soon after. Heinz removed pork from the product during World War II rationing.{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/feb/22/consider-baked-beans | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Oliver | last=Thring | title=Consider baked beans | date=22 February 2011}}

File:Beans on sourdough toast.jpg

Originally, Heinz Baked Beans were prepared in the traditional United States manner for sales in Ireland and Great Britain. Over time, the recipe was altered to a less sweet tomato sauce with a mix of herbs and spices but without maple syrup, molasses, or brown sugar to appeal to the tastes of the United Kingdom.{{cite journal|journal=Tasting Table|url=https://www.tastingtable.com/928300/heinz-beanz-vs-american-style-baked-beans-whats-the-difference/|title=Heinz Beanz Vs. American-Style Baked Beans: What's The Difference?|first=Lauren|last=Rothman|date=July 14, 2022}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/may/01/how-to-cook-perfect-baked-beans|title=How to cook the perfect baked beans|author=Felicity Cloake|date=1 May 2014|work=The Guardian}} This is the version of baked beans most commonly eaten outside of the United States. Baked beans are commonly eaten on toast ("beans on toast") or as part of a full breakfast. Heinz Baked Beans remains the best-selling brand in the UK.{{cite web|url=http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/heinz-change-baked-beans-recipe-faces-branston-challenge/541984?src_site=brandrepublic |title= Heinz to change baked beans recipe as it faces Branston challenge|website=campaignlive.co.uk}} The Baked Bean Museum of Excellence in Port Talbot, Wales, was dedicated to baked beans.{{cite book |last=Davies |first=Hunter |title=Behind the scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans: My search for Britain's Maddest Museums|url=https://archive.org/details/behindscenesatmu0000davi |url-access=registration |publisher=Virgin Books|date=2010 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/behindscenesatmu0000davi/page/59 59–72] |chapter=Chapter 4: The Baked Bean Museum of Excellence, Port Talbot |isbn=978-0-7535-2213-4}}

== Recipes and use as food ==

{{nutritional value

| name=Canned baked beans, plain

| water=72 g

| kJ=393

| protein=4.75 g

| fat=0.37 g

| carbs=21.1 g

| fiber=4.1 g

| sugars=7.96 g

| calcium_mg=34

| iron_mg=1.19

| magnesium_mg=27

| phosphorus_mg=74

| potassium_mg=224

| sodium_mg=343

| zinc_mg=2.28

| manganese_mg=0.109

| copper_mg=0.145

| vitC_mg=0

| thiamin_mg=0.096

| riboflavin_mg=0.039

| niacin_mg=0.428

| pantothenic_mg=0.216

| vitB6_mg=0.084

| folate_ug=12

| note=[https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/175182/nutrients Link to USDA Database entry]

}}

While many recipes are commonly stewed, traditionally dried beans were soaked overnight, simmered until tender (parboiled), and then slow-baked in a ceramic or cast-iron beanpot. Originally baked beans were sweetened with maple syrup by Native Americans, a tradition some recipes still follow, but some English colonists modified the sweetening agent to brown sugar beginning in the 17th century. In the 18th century the convention of using American made molasses as a sweetening agent became increasingly used in order to avoid British taxes on sugar. The molasses style of baked beans has become closely associated with the city of Boston and is often referred to as Boston baked beans.

Today in the New England region, baked beans are flavored either with maple syrup (Northern New England), or with molasses (Boston), and are traditionally cooked with salt pork in a beanpot in a brick oven for six to eight hours.{{cite book |last = Farmer |first = Fannie |title = The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book (updated from 1896 version)|year = 2007 |isbn = 9781408632291 |page = 212|publisher = Vail-Ballou Press|location=Binghamton, NY }} In the absence of a brick oven, the beans were cooked in a beanpot nestled in a bed of embers placed near the outer edges of a hearth, about a foot away from the fire. Today, baked beans can be made in a slow cooker or in a modern oven using a traditional beanpot, Dutch oven, or casserole dish. Regardless of cooking method, the results of the dish, commonly described as having a savory-sweet flavor and a brownish- or reddish-tinted white bean, are the same.

While initially a New England regional cuisine, baked beans have become a common item in many countries, and are now a staple item served at barbecues and picnics.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6nC9AwAAQBAJ&q=history+bbq|title=Barbecue: The History of an American Institution|author=Robert F. Moss|page=25|publisher=University of Alabama Press|year=2010|isbn=9780817317188}} They are easily prepared and consumed, and can be served hot or cold directly from the can, making them handy for outdoor eating.

Nutrition

Canned baked beans (plain or vegetarian) are 72% water, 21% carbohydrates, 5% protein, and contain negligible fat (table). In a reference amount of {{cvt|100|g}}, baked beans supply {{convert|393|kJ|kcal|abbr=off}} of food energy and {{cvt|4|g}} of dietary fiber. They are a rich source (21% of the Daily Value, DV) of zinc and a moderate source of copper and sodium, with no other micronutrients in significant content (table).

In 2002 in the UK, manufacturers of canned baked beans were allowed to advertise the product as contributing to the recommended daily consumption of five to six vegetables per person.{{Cite news |date=2002-04-18 |title=Baked beans 'count as vegetables' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1936488.stm |access-date=2025-03-27 |language=en-GB}} This concession was criticised by heart specialists, who pointed to the high levels of sugar and salt in the product.{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2002-04-18 |title=UK: Heinz baked beans, spaghetti shapes to count as 'vegetables' in daily intake guidelines |url=https://www.just-food.com/news/uk-heinz-baked-beans-spaghetti-shapes-to-count-as-vegetables-in-daily-intake-guidelines/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Just Food |language=en-US}} Some manufacturers produce a "healthy" version of the product with reduced levels of sugar and salt.{{cite web|url=https://healthy-kids.com.au/our-top-five-baked-beans/|title=Our top 5 baked beans – Healthy Kids|website=healthy-kids.com.au|access-date=29 September 2018|archive-date=26 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200326083829/https://healthy-kids.com.au/our-top-five-baked-beans/|url-status=dead}}

References

External links

[https://www.delicious.com.au/food-files/news-articles/article/baked-beans-made/cf7wofnk? How are baked beans actually made? delicious, 3 December 2024]

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