31 July: Baked Beans

As we come to the end of National Baked bean month, here are 10 things you might not know about baked beans.

1. The first people to eat baked beans were probably Native Americans. While some food historians argue that the dish originated in France, the beans are native to North America. Native Americans made them by mixing the beans with maple sugar and bear fat in earthenware pots which they placed in underground "bean holes" lined in hot rocks to cook slowly. When the British colonists arrived, they were pleased to discover a dish similar to peas porridge made from ingredients native to the New World.
2. The beans are a type of haricot bean called ‘Navy’ beans. 50,000 tonnes of navy beans are shipped annually from North America to Liverpool docks, bound for the baked bean factory in Wigan. There are about 465 of them in a standard 415g can.
3. The other main ingredient is tomato puree, made from Mediterranean grown tomatoes. Heinz uses enough tomatoes every day to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool.
4. As for the other ingredients, which give baked beans their distinctive taste – I can’t tell you, because it’s such a closely guarded secret that only three people in the world know the recipe and I’m not one of them. Even the workers in the factory don’t know, because the spice mix comes to the factory in bags which are numbered rather than labelled.
5. They’re certainly popular. More than half a million cans of Heinz Baked Beans are consumed in the UK every day. Fans of baked beans include Zayn Malik, Ellie Goulding, Joss Stone and the Queen. Heinz has now held a Royal Warrant for 63 years, and Her Majesty has visited the factory. Baked beans also formed part of the supplies taken by Scott to the Antarctic. A photograph from the expedition shows Frederick John Hooper tucking into a can while sitting on a Heinz crate.
6. They were originally a luxury item, first sold in the UK by Fortnum and Mason in 1901. A can would set you back 9d, which would be £2.15 in today’s money.
7. They are cooked after they are canned rather than before. The can is filled with blanched beans, then the sauce is added. The can is sealed and only then does the cooking start.
8. The advertising slogan ‘Beanz Meanz Heinz’, created in 1967, was unanimously voted best advertising slogan of all time.
9. In the 1940s, the Ministry of Food classified Heinz Beanz as an “essential food” during wartime rationing. Today, baked bean manufacturers are allowed to say that a portion of beans counts as one of your five a day, although initially this was criticised – as in, how dare manufacturers encourage people to eat something with salt and sugar in? However, it has been proven that consumption of baked beans does indeed lower cholesterol, and there’s a “healthy” version with less salt and sugar if you’re still concerned.
10. Beans, beans, good for the heart… We’ve all heard that one and can complete the rhyme, which actually comes from a children’s song called Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit. But why do they make you fart? This is because polysaccharides are fermented by the bacteria in the large intestine, having passed through the small intestine largely undigested. This is what produces the large amounts of gas.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

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