3/25/2009:
The following is a print ad for Van Camp's Pork and Beans found in the March 25, 1908, issue of the Fargo Forum. It's a "comparison" ad, comparing YOUR WAY, (as in your home kitchen), and OUR WAY, (as in our modern Van Camp's factory). Listen closely. You'll enjoy the comparisons!
"Your way: You bake beans in a home oven. The maximum heat is 200 degrees. In the center of the baking dish, by actual test, it is about 100 degrees. It requires great heat to break down the fiber of beans and you cannot supply it. The result is heavy food, hard to digest.
"Our Way: We heat our ovens to 245 degrees. A thermometer is attached to each oven and the heat never varies. We bake the beans 90 minutes. The terrific heat separates the atoms so the digestive juices can get to them. A lesser heat will not do it. Beans, to be digestible must be factory cooked.
"Your Way: You bake in a dry heat. The result is the top beans are crisped. The beans in the center are not even half baked. You burst the skins so the beans become mushy rather than meaty. Every bean should be whole.
"Our Way: We bake in live steam. The result is, each separate bean is baked thoroughly, and all beans are baked alike. None are browned. None are broken. The beans are baked until they are mealy. Yes, they are nutty because they are whole.
"You add the tomato sauce afterwards. It becomes then a dressing, not part of the beans.
"We bake the beans, the tomato sauce and the pork all together and get our delicious blend.
"You spend hours in the soaking, the boiling, the baking; and consume considerable fuel. The bother is irksome. The dish that results is not very good, nor good for you. You think once a week is enough. It isn't your fault. You simply lack the facilities.
"We send you our beans ready to serve. Put the can in hot water 10 minutes-then open. That's all. You then have a steaming hot meal, fresh and savory. And such a meal! Your people will want Van Camp's every day when they know them, so keep a dozen cans in the house."
The 1908 newspaper ad goes on to say: "You don't know what you miss-you who don't use Van Camp's. Beans are Nature's choicest food-23% nitrogenous; 84% nutriment. Like meat in their food value; not like it in cost. They are appetizing and hearty; all people like them. They should be a daily dish-not an occasional. You will eat more of them when you know Van Camp's."
Well...there must be something to Van Camp's beans. They are still on the grocer's shelf 101 years after this ad appeared in the Fargo Forum!