“Why are there only 239 beans in Irish bean soup?” (joke)

Beans have a reputation of making people fart, and there’s a joke:
 
Q: Why are there only 239 beans in Irish bean soup?
A (Irish accent): Because one more and it would be too farty.
 
The joke was cited in the newsgroup rec.food.cooking in 1993. The book 239 Beans in a Cassoulet (1990), by Norman Goss, possibly was titled with this joke in mind.
 
“If I ate beans and you ate beans how old would we be?”/“I’d be farty and you’d be farty too” is a similar joke.
 
   
OCLC WorldCat record
239 beans in a cassoulet : a lifetime of food and wine experiences with menus and recipes to go with them
Author: Norman Goss
Publisher: San Luis Obispo, Calif. (7525 Orcutt Rd., San Luis Obispo 93401) : Chamisal Vineyard & Winery, ©1990.
Edition/Format:   Print book : Biography : English : 1st ed
   
Google Groups: rec.food.cooking
Musical Beans (was Beans won’t cook)
choo choo earl
5/11/93
Concerning beans producing gas:
>
You all have obviously been putting in too many beans.  You never want to put more than 239 beans in the pot.  If you put in 1 more they’re too farty (get it, 240, nudge-nudge,grin-grin, wink-wink)
 
Google Groups: rec.humor
An Irish Joke
Carol Carroll
3/17/95
Why does an Irishman make bean soup with only 239 beans?
Because with one more bean the soup would be “too farty”
 
Google Groups: alt.appalachian
Hominy Beans?
piglet
8/24/96
(...)
You gotta have the Irish accent in your head for this….the reason you must count carefully your 239 beans, is because if you make a mistake and put in too many, you’ll have “two-farty”.
 
Google Books
Leon Schuster’s Lekker, Thick South African Joke Book
By Leon Schuster
Halfway House, South Africa: Zebra
1998
Pg. 186:
BEAN SOUP
Paddy, the lrish cook, was renowned the world over for his lrish Bean Soup.
 
‘l use exactly 239 beans,’ he revealed. ‘One more and it would be too farty.’
 
Twitter
elisabeth
‏@whathappened
@johnroderick why are there only 239 beans in irish bean soup? because one more and it would be too-farty! 240.. too farty.. irish.. yeah.
5:39 PM - 17 Dec 2008
   
Google Books
The Complete Book of Farts
By Alec Bromcie
New York, NY: Jeremy P. Tacher/Penguin
2011
Pg. ?:
Paddy the Irish cook was famous for his bean soup. “I use exactly 239 beans,” he said. “One more and it would be too farty.”
 
Google Books
More One Liners, Jokes and Gags
By Grant Tucker
London: The Robson Press
2013
Pg. ?:
Why are there only 239 beans in Irish stew? Because one more, and it’d be too farty.
 
reddit
Why are there only 239 beans in Irish stew?
submitted July 22, 2013 by GTech
Because one more, and it’d be too farty.
 
reddit
Why do the Irish only put 239 beans in their soup? self.3amjokes
Submitted February 16, 2014 by [deleted]
Because one more bean would be too farty.
 
YouTube
Jokes - Why should you only put 239 beans in bean soup? Cuz one more will make it “too farty!”
jokesus
Published on Aug 19, 2015
Joke :
Why should you only put 239 beans in bean soup?
Cuz one more will make it “too farty!”
 
reddit
Why does Irish bean soup have exactly 239 beans in it?
submitted November 27, 2015 by Jack6503
(Irish accent) Because one more and it would be too farty.