Boston baked beans come in two forms: candy-coated peanuts and slow-cooked navy or kidney beans with molasses, bacon, and spices. The dish originated from Native Americans and is a staple in summer holiday gatherings. Molasses is a traditional ingredient due to Boston’s history in rum production, but in 1919, a molasses flood caused a disaster. July is National Baked Bean Month.
Boston baked beans can be one of two delicious foods, and they’re as different from each other as two foods can be. They are both kind of sweet and unique. One is actually not a bean at all. The other is shared in the US during the summer holidays and can be as varied as the family gatherings at which they are served. Interestingly, they are thought to have been first introduced to pilgrims by Native Americans.
Boston beans, candy, aren’t beans at all. They are peanuts with a sugar coating. Production of these treats began in the 1930s around the same time as Red Hots and the same company, Ferrara Pan. Ferrara Pan may have been the company that brought you Boston baked beans, but the name applied to any sugar-coated peanut. In fact, there were many companies competing for the Boston Baked Bean market. Ferrara Pan rose above them and still reigns supreme.
Navy beans, kidney beans or Boston beans, the official bean of Massachusetts, form the main ingredient in Boston Baked Beans which refers to the dish that gave Boston its nickname, Beantown. After beans, the most common ingredients will be molasses or brown sugar, tomato sauce or ketchup, and bacon. From there the recipes can vary as onions, green peppers, dry mustard, soy sauce and even pineapple are added for the beans which are unique to the families that created them.
The basic procedure for cooking Boston Baked Beans is to slow cook the beans with molasses, tomato sauce, bacon, and your choice of spices in a crock pot for up to eight hours. This differed from the original Indian recipes, where beans were a staple, as Bostonians substituted maple syrup for molasses and put up with the fat with bacon or pork fat.
Molasses is the traditional ingredient due to the role Boston has played in the production of rum. Even going back to colonial times, Boston had large reserves of molasses due to its role in producing rum. Though it came in handy for making a pot of Boston Baked Beans.
In 1919, the molasses supply got out of control and flooded the city. It was called The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 and it would have claimed 21 lives and injured 150 people before it was all said and done. Molasses flooded the streets with thirty-foot waves. However, traditionalists will only use molasses in their Boston Baked Beans.
Despite the long hours of low heat it takes to make baked beans in Boston—heat and a process that has more in common with winter foods than summer foods—July is National Baked Bean Month. After all, you just can’t have a barbecue without Boston Baked Beans.
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