Baked beans are a recipe consisting of pulses baked (or stewed) in a sauce.

Traditional cuisines of many regions claim such recipes as typical specialities, for example:

• Boston baked beans
• Jersey bean crock
• Guernsey bean jar
• Cassoulet
• Feijoada
• baked beans in Quebec - see Cuisine of Quebec
• British cuisine claims beans on toast as a teatime favourite, and baked beans may form part of a Full English breakfast
• and as part of an Irish breakfast

The commercial canned beans sold today are haricot beans (a variety of Phaseolus vulgaris) in tomato sauce. They are popular due to the fact they are very cheap to make and buy. For example, a can of beans in Tesco can cost as little as 7p

History

The recipe for baked beans may be based on a Native American dish in which beans were cooked with bear fat and maple syrup in an earthenware pot. European settlers may have adapted this recipe, using pork fat and molasses.

According to alternative traditions, sailors brought cassoulet from the south of France, or the regional bean stew recipes from northern France and the Channel Islands.

Most probably, a number of regional bean recipes coalesced and cross_fertilised in North America and ultimately gave rise to the baked bean culinary tradition familiar today.

Health

In 2002 the British Dietetic Association allowed manufacturers of canned baked beans to advertise the product as contributing to the recommended five daily portions of vegetables per person. This concession was criticised by heart specialists who pointed to the high levels of sugar and salt in the product.

See also

• Refried beans
• Chili con carne
• Beans and chips
• H. J. Heinz Company - one of the first distributors of Baked Beans