06/05/2026
Fun Fact Friday: Bean Pots 🫘
If you have ever made beans in a slow cooker, you are carrying on an old kitchen tradition, just with a plug instead of a pottery pot.
Bean pots may look simple, but they were once one of the hardest working pieces in the kitchen. Before slow cookers, pressure cookers, and modern ovens, a heavy pottery bean pot was perfect for making a filling meal with very little fuss.
The shape is part of the magic. A bean pot usually has a rounded body, a narrower opening, and a snug lid. That design helps hold in heat and moisture, which is just what you want for beans that need to cook slowly for hours. The heavy ceramic also warms gently and steadily, helping the beans soften without drying out too quickly.
Bean pots are closely associated with New England baked beans, especially the molasses-sweetened version many people know today. But the story of baked beans goes back much further. Indigenous peoples in North America were cooking beans long before European colonists arrived, often using native beans along with maple or other available sweeteners. Colonists later adapted the dish with ingredients such as molasses and salt pork, and by the 18th and 19th centuries, baked beans had become a familiar and practical meal in many New England homes.
A simple bean pot recipe:
Soak 1 pound of navy beans overnight. Drain, then simmer in fresh water until just tender.
Place the beans in a bean pot with:
1 chopped onion
1/3 cup molasses
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon mustard
Salt and pepper
A small piece of salt pork or a few slices of bacon, optional
Cover with hot water, put the lid on, and bake at 300° for about 4 to 6 hours. Check occasionally and add more hot water if the beans start to dry out. For a richer flavor, remove the lid near the end so the top can darken slightly.
A humble pot, but a very hardworking one.
