Maine Soul

N A SOFT summer evening,depending on which way the wind blew, we'd either screw up our noses and say, "You can smell the mill," or we'd inhale gratefully and say, "Ah ... you can smell B&M."

It was an aroma of spices and molasses - heavy and warm, tangy and meaty - redolent of Saturday nights, family dinners, and steamy kitchen windows. Back when Fridays still meant fish for supper, Saturdays meant "The Dave Astor Show" on TV and beans, hot dogs, and brown bread. The smell of baking beans isunique to Portland, an aroma you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the country. h

Burnham & Morrill Brick Oven Baked Beans sits at One Beanpot Circle ~ on the water to the right as you head north out of town on 1-295 - but the company didn't begin with beans. When the canning firm of Rumery & Burnham, which fulfilled government contracts during the Civil War, dissolved in 1865, Burnham took up with Charles Morrill and began canning corn. With a plant in South Paris, "Paris Sugar Corn" was sold nationally. Recognized even in an international market, the new firm received awards from as far away as France. Burnham and Morrill also packed meats and shellfish, came up with a forerunner of canned tuna called "Fish Flakes," and soon had plants all over Maine and in Canada.

The plant at One Beanpot Circle, built in 1913, attests to B&M's flexibility and endurance. The company changed with the times and adjusted to the demands and constraints of the market through two world wars. Corn and

The Beans Of Portland, Maine

BY ANDREA RONNING

fish flakes (along with countless other products) gave way to beans and brown bread.

When Charles Morrill died in 1901, his son George took over and bought out the Burnhams. Charles Morrill II took charge in 1934, and his sons Charles and George served next.

History has it that the Pilgrims invented baked beans. Cooking wasn't allowed on the Sabbath, so Pilgrim women made up a pot of beans and kept them on the fire right through to Sunday. B&M started selling brick-oven baked beans in 1927, around the same time the Friends Brothers Company of Massachusetts did. Friends sued B&M and lost when B&M

Trawlen off-loading fish into the top of the "Fish House" at the B&M plant in 1919. Today connected to the main B&M bulding by a throughway, the "Fish House" houses maintenance supplies. produced an old B&M family recipe that established proof of originality.

I never knew a kid who liked baked beans, and brown bread was about as enticing as stale, rye bread pudding, but my mother loved beans and made them the way her mother had.

Inevitably, on Friday nights, there it sat: a huge bowl of white kidneys, little red eyes staring, soaking in water. The next morning they went into a pot to be cooked with salt pork, mustard, and molasses. I'd be watching "Youth Cavalcade" or "Lost in Space" when the summons came. ''I'm not hungry," I'd yell. A sigh, a pause, and then, "At least come eat a hot dog."

When Mom went to work, the beans came out of a can - like the brown bread had - and that can came from B&M ... nothing less would do. Occasionally, though, I found relief with pea beans. Little, light brown, and sturdy, they tasted best smothered with catsup. I loved catsup.

Back to B&M. Enter the William Underwood Company of Massachusetts ... yes, those red devils with pitchforks. One of the nation's oldest canning companies, they began preserving foods in Boston in 1822 and had developed new methods of sterilization. In 1962, B&M offered stock publicly, and Underwood acquired B&M in 1964. By then, B&M had bought Bessey Foods (jams, jellies, and juices) and had opened a plant to pack beans in California. U nderwood owned Friends, and in 1974 they moved its operation to Portland, making B&M the premier canner of baked beans.

There are a lot of beans on the supermarket shelf, but most are

Continued on page 38

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BAR & GRIll( & BAR

SERVING FROM 11:30TIL VERY LATE SOUTH OF THE VILLAGE. FREEPORT 865-4006 Continued from page 37 steamed. Baking implies the presence of dry heat at work in an oven for seven hours. It takes time and costs money, but aficionados will tell you it's worth it.

Tragedy strikes indiscriminately, like lightning, but when it happens to the wealthy it attracts attention. Charles S. Morrill III was shot four times with a .38 Smith & Wesson at his home in November 1987. Described as a gentleman farmer who'd inherited his wealth from his mother, Morrill resigned from B&M when Underwood took over. James H. Savage, Sr., was arraigned on a charge of murder. A trial date has not been set at press time. Morrill and Savage were members of a bluegrass band called the Shiloh Mountain Boys.

Today, B&M - a division of Pet Foods - is owned by IC Industries, which bought out Underwood in 1982. B&M has come a long way . from its origins, but its reputation rests firmly on New England perspicacity and know-how.

In these health-conscious, highprotein, low-cholesterol days, could beans be ripe for a surge in popularity? Regional food is the latest haute cuisine. After Cajun, with pan-blackened everything, catfish, and okra, why not beans?

B&M has all kinds: yellow-eye, red kidney, barbecue, even vegetarian. Why not a catalogue with gift boxes offering a gourmet selection to be sent torransplanted New Englanders all over the country, just like those cheeses?

How about live baked beans, packed in ice?

Beans have a history, they're imbued with tradition, and they're unique, our very own Portland product. And, they've been around a long, long time, a certifiable Portland soul food. Burnham & Morrill is one company that definitely amounts to more than a hill of beans.

Andrea Ronning directs "Sports Overtime" on WCSH-TV along with news broadcasts. She describes herself as a "writer who went to school in South Portland, where I didn't know Bob Elliot." As a director, she "once waved to Robin Leach and got a glimpse of Tony Curtis,"