Changes in Calculated Process Times and Drained Weight based on Soaking and Blanching of Kidney and Navy Beans

Kidney and navy beans were given different soaking/blanching treatments and canned in 300 × 407 and 603 × 700 cans with each container receiving equal amounts of dry weight of that bean. The process time (B_b) for kidney beans decreased as the amount of moisture in the beans increased. For both kidney and navy beans soaked for 2 h, the process time decreased when the fill weight was increased by 12 and 8%, respectively. For 0 and 2 h soaked kidney beans, the drained weights after processing were statistically the same even though the kidney beans soaked for 2 h had a moisture level 3.3-fold greater. Comparing 2 h soaked beans with fully soaked, blanched beans, the process time increased significantly for fully soaked, blanched beans by 9 and 46% for beans in 300 × 407 can and 603 × 700 can, respectively. The operation of blanching tended to lower the process time and drained weight of navy beans.