Beans huh.
Last week I went to Sevierville TN and the GPS took me off I 40 onto US 411. I was driving the old road through the countryside and suddenly around the curve and miles from nowhere was a large industrial site. It is the Ball Corp that makes the cans and the Bush Co that cans the beans.
There was a shiny new series of “old” buildings. They had spruced up the old Bush family store and made a museum. I stopped on the way back and found a tribute to Duke the family dog that knows all about canning beans and is constantly trying to sell the family secret recipe. The leather bound gilt labeled family recipe is by the way safely stored there in an antique corner cabinet that is criss crossed with many red lasers that presumably are the burglar alarm.
Back to the thread, there is a nice display of early canning procedure. The cans were provided with a top soldered in and a large hole for filling. The hole was manually soldered over with a circular flat plate after filling and then the solder sealed was processed further. This was the very early 1900’s
For the record, if you are interested in the history of beans, food preservation and entrepreneurial success, a visit to the Bush Family Store museum might be worthwhile.
Sounds great. Perhaps a road trip is in order!