Is the sodium in baked beans cans mostly in the sauce?

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Just wondering

Yes indeed. Same goes for the sugar.

Without the sauce, it would be ...
"beans beans, good for your heart,
beans beans, make you fart"

Hello

I work somewhere that actually makes baked beans. The beans themselves are soaked in water for around 18 hours, before being drained and blanched in hot water. They are drained and then filled into the can. The sauce is prepared with salt (sodium) and sugar (and tomato puree, water, spices, starch etc) and is then filled into the can with the beans before seaming and heat processing.

The sodium is in the sauce but the beans contine to absorb liquid during the heat processing treatment and for a short period afterwards so some of the sauce is absorbed by the beans (including the sodium and sugar). The amount of salt and sugar in baked beans is actually quite low, and has been reduced further in the last few years, and baked beans are actually quite a healthy option as they are low in fat and sugar and a good source of fibre and protein. I could go on, but I'll resist the urge!

Hope that helps

Awesome reply from an expert!

Additionally I'll mention that if you purchase a slow cooker (aka "crock pot", available very inexpensively at yard/tag sales) it is incredibly easy to make your own beans at home, using as much or as little sodium as you like.

Most places sell extra low salt & sugar beans now anyway.

Do you actually have a high blood pressure problem? If not then you dont need to worry. And even if you did, you could just increase your intake of potassium before resorting to lowering sodium.

http://ukpmc.ac.uk/abstract/MED/1649867 ... Ak6fgAex.0

Yeah, it does seem that salt is not the high blood pressure villain it has been made out to be for all these years. Recall Gary Taubes had a large article about this last week.

"Message to Bloomberg: Salt isn't bad for you"

http://hunter-gatherer.com/blog/message ... nt-bad-you

Other recent study articles have come to a similar conclusion - for example:

"Settled? Salt In The Climate Wound"

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/ ... ate-wound/

If you have a can of something like beans and you want less sodium, rinsing them in a colander under water flowing from a faucet in the kitchen sink will wash away some of the salt.