PAN 123: South Africa’s top canning bean variety

There are some tasty reasons why this bean variety from Pannar dominates the canning market, says Dr Antony Jarvie of Podsquad, an independent consultant to Corteva™ Agriscience.

PAN 123 is a small white canning bean that entered the commercial market in 2010 and has steadily come to dominate the sector. The farmers who grow the bean and the canning companies that process it value this cultivar highly for its high quality and excellent yield.

development

PAN 123 has taken over the mantle of the well-known Teebus bean variety, developed in the early 1980s. Teebus became the foundation on which South Africa’s canning market developed, and processing was based on its characteristics.

But while canners remained satisfied with the variety, farmers increasingly required improvements in yield to compete with other crops in rotation.

PAN 123 was developed in the mould of Teebus specifically to meet this need; bred to improve yield significantly, it did not stray too far from Teebus’s culinary qualities.

Moisture uptake, commonly measured as hydration ratio, is one of the elements that determines canning yield. The more water a bean absorbs in the canning process, the fewer beans it takes to fill a can.

There is a delicate balance, however, between canning yield and bean quality, as very high moisture uptake is associated with poor culinary quality. Beans need to absorb moisture while remaining intact; in other words, they should not become mushy in the cooking process or leach starches into the sauce, causing it to congeal into clumps.

PAN 123 produces a consistentquality canning product, where