Baked Beans

I noticed a tin of baked beans in the cupboard while reaching for a coffee pod - yes, I know, not exactly eco-friendly - and found myself looking at the words Baked Beans.

Baked beans.

They are not baked, are they?

I had never really thought about this before, which is odd because I have been eating them for most of my life. You open the tin, tip them into a saucepan, heat them up and eat them. Or put them in the microwave, which is what most of us actually do now. At no stage does baking occur.

Apparently they are soaked, sealed in the tin with the sauce and cooked under pressure. That is perfectly sensible, but it is not baking. It is beans being boiled inside a tin, although I accept that this would not be a particularly attractive thing to print on the label.

Presumably there was once some connection with beans being slowly baked in an oven, and the name simply carried on after the method had changed. Or perhaps people thought baked sounded nicer. It does. Baked suggests warmth, a proper kitchen and something taking its time. Pressure-cooked suggests the food has been interrogated.

But we have all gone along with it without question.

I do not feel cheated. A baked bean is still a baked bean, even if it is not baked, which is itself a slightly ridiculous sentence. They are cheap, filling and very good on toast. I shall continue buying them.

It just bothers me slightly that the entire product is named after the one thing that does not happen to it.

I went into the cupboard for coffee and came out mistrusting beans.