We like Boston baked beans on Sundays with hamburgers on the grill, but the go-to brand in the can, Bush's original, has 550 mg sodium per half cup, which eats up a lot of the daily quota of 2000 mg.
The homemade version below adapted from Serious Eats has about 246 mg per half cup, almost 45% less sodium than Bush's. It takes a long time to make, but it's more authentic on top of being lower in sodium. It's also less sweet, so add your maple syrup to taste at the end. One half cup worked well for us, but you may like more than that.
Make it when you want the baked beans with tomorrow night's meal. For me that means starting on Saturday morning to be ready by Sunday night. For traditionalists eating Beans and Wieners on Saturday nights, that means getting started on Friday morning.
1 lb dried navy beans
6 oz. salt pork
0.5 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
0.5 cup pure maple syrup
about 3 quarts water
1/ soak the navy beans all day in fresh water (I don't use salt)
2/ at the end of the day pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees F
3/ drain and sort the navy beans
4/ cut the pork into lardons so that each piece has some meat on it
5/ add a quart of water and the molasses to a three quart dutch oven and stir until thoroughly mixed
6/ add the navy beans and pork and cover the beans with the rest of the water, and stir
7/ bake in the oven overnight* with the lid on tight/check the water level in the morning and add to just cover the beans, if necessary/after twelve hours overnight there should still be plenty of water in the pot without having to add any
8/ continue to bake covered another seven hours, checking about midway through to see that there remains enough water/you'll know to add if the beans are sticking to the bottom/after almost nineteen hours I didn't have to add any water at all, but I began with slightly more than three quarts water
9/ when done the beans supply their own paste and the mixture should stir freely but not be runny
10/ at this point add the maple syrup and serve
11/ if you like it runnier, cut the serving with some water and heat through
*Serious Eats doesn't recommend unattended overnight baking for safety reasons, and neither do I.
