Our British-grown dried pulses are delicious, healthy and a great source of vegetable protein. Split fava beans don’t even need soaking!
We launched our first products in November 2012 – they’re all available to order from our online shop. We hope to be stocked in discerning outlets and served in the finest restaurants soon! Trade enquiries are welcome.
- Split dried fava beans: 500g pack with recipe booklet / 12.5kg catering pack
- Whole dried fava beans: 12.5kg catering pack
- Whole dried Kabuki peas: 12.5kg catering pack
From 19th January 2013 we’ll also have:
- Whole dried fava beans: 500g pack with recipe booklet
- Whole dried Kabuki peas: 500g pack with recipe booklet
Followed very soon by the elusive whole dried black badgers (maple or carlin peas), large blue peas, yellow peas, split green peas and split yellow peas. We’ll be launching a range of canned beans in the early spring.
Fava beans
Fava beans are delicious, nutritious and good for the soil. Long before fresh broad beans were eaten, the beans were left to ripen and dry on the plant before harvest.
These beans were an important part of the British diet as a source of protein until we started eating more meat and dairy products a few hundred years ago. They’re still a major farm crop in Britain and widely eaten in traditional dishes in the Mediterranean, Africa and Asia.
Fava beans are great to cook in a wide variety of dishes.
Split dried fava beans are very easy to cook and don’t need soaking. The beans become softer and softer as they’re cooked. The whole beans and peas do require soaking and longer cooking, but hold their shape even after prolonged cooking.
Whole fava beans retain their skin and require soaking before use, but hold their shape even after prolonged cooking. Whole fava beans are the main ingredient in the traditional Egyptian dish of ful medames (try it for breakfast with a fried egg!) and perfect for hearty baked beans.
Kabuki peas
Kabuki peas are among the best varieties of dried green marrowfat peas, most often used for classic mushy peas but great for much more besides.
They pair particularly well with Japanese wasbi or British horseradish.
You should set up a stall in the Farmer’s Market in Norwich!
Good idea!
We are planning to offer them at Norwich FarmShare (on a Thursday when they have their cropshare day at bicycle links: http://norwichfarmshare.co.uk/ ) in the not to distant future – we’ll keep you posted.
Josiah
Good luck with this crop diversification and with helping us as a nation become less dependent on imports
Thank you Maureen, much appreciated – the beans have received such a positive welcome, it’s very encouraging.
Josiah
I live in Norfolk. Can I buy locally?
Hi Diane,
We finished packing our initial range this week, so we’re starting to approach all the retailers and wholesalers who’ve expressed an interest over the last few months – with any luck our beans should be available in a shop near you soon!
Do you have a particular outlet you’d like to be able to buy them in? If so let us know and we’ll get in touch with them about stocking our beans and peas.
Best wishes,
Josiah
Try the fantastic Trinity Wholefoods, Hastings, East Sussex. You can say it is from a keen customer of theirs.
Just realised you did not mention if they were organic or not?
Thanks Karen, we’ll get in touch with them.
As for organic – not yet.
As a small start-up business introducing a new product to the UK market we’re having to piggy-back on the export supply chain; buying small amounts of beans that would otherwise be shipped overseas. Most legume traders clean, sort and store beans in 100 tonne batches. As there is no export market for organic beans we’re only able to dip into non-organic supplies – until we can afford to buy a full 100 tonne batch and have it processed (and at the moment we can’t!).
Organic UK pulses are problematic – a lack of confidence in the domestic market for them combined with the difficulties associated with cleaning small batches and the risks of pests and disease all put organic farmers off. We’re working hard on it, but the first step is demonstrating demand.
We’re very keen to move to organic supplies with this in mind we’re talking to a number of organic farmers and hope the situation will change at the the end of this year – at least for the whole fava beans.
Best wishes,
Josiah
I’d be a customer too if they were organic, and I’m sure my sister, a vegan who only eats organic, would be too, so please bear our demand in mind too! (And if you have any updates re organic status please do keep me updated via my email address, thanks!)
Oh, and you could try talking to Unicorn Co-op in Chorlton, Manchester and Windmill, Aigburth Road in Liverpool as well as Mattas, Bold Street, Liverpool regarding stocking your products.
We have a fair few Asian groceries selling these kind of products (though not organic) in Liverpool, have you tried to break into that market? If prices were competitive perhaps you could get over cultural loyalty by demonstrating financial savings even if the environmental aspect of not shipping all the way from India/China/etc is not a primary concern. …Maybe!
Thanks Sheindal – some excellent suggestions, and thanks for the feedback on organic pulses, as I mentioned elsewhere in the thread it’s really useful to know this kind of thing. I’ll make sure we let you know as soon as we have our first organic beans!
We’re already in touch with Unicorn about supply but the two shops you mention in Liverpool are new to us so we’ll contact them.
You’re right about the specialist market too – ironically it’s possible that Asian and Middle Eastern grocers are selling fava beans or products made from fava beans that originated in the UK, have been exported, processed and packed and then sent back here!
Thanks again,
Josiah
Add me to the list of those interested to hear when organic beans are available. Thanks and good luck!
Another buyer if you can source organic.
I’d love some Fava beans.
We used to be able to also buy Field Beans in the wholefood stores back in the 1980′s. These entirely disappeared from all shop shelves, and I’m dead jealous of the pigs and other livestock which still get to scoff them. Lovely earthy beans, very much like broad beans in flavour. Whats’ the chance?
Again, since we eat 99% all organic I am a little reluctant to buy from any non-organic source. I might make an exception for some Fava beans this time, but please keep trying!
Rgds
We hope to have some good news on the organic front soon! Keep an eye on our website or newsletter. Best wishes, Nick
We buy nearly all our bulk staples from Infinity foods in Brighton.
Well worth asking if they’d stock your beans. (But they do like Organics! – another plug there).
Rgds
Ty The Green Grocer in Earlam shopping centre Norwich.
Thanks Jenny, we’ll pop in with some samples next time we’re in Norwich.
Josiah
Can I suggest Lembas in Sheffield as a distribution point? They are a wholesale retailers that stock a lot of bulk wholefood items. but are also open to the public for personal shopping. I would really prefer to be able to buy ‘local’ (as in national) products and for items like these it’s tricky.
Thanks for getting into the market!
Thanks very much for this suggestion – we’ll get in touch with them.
I second Lembas in Sheffield! It’s rather a long way from Norfolk, but they’re the sorts of people who would look at cunning ways to share transport…
I just checked Lembas’s website and they don’t sell Fava/broad beans. They sell just about every other sort of bean, so that’s a clear gap in their list.
Thanks Christine, you’re right our beans would complement their range – we’ve sent them a wholesale price list.
Josiah
Single Step in Lancaster may be interested in stocking your beans and peas. They’re an independent cooperative wholefood retailer. I would like to try some of your fava beans but £5 postage is excessive. Presumably you’re aiming your website at potential retailers or wholesalers?
Thank you for suggesting Single Step – we’ll get in touch with them. Now we have a range of beans and peas packed and ready to go, we’re hoping to make them available through a wide range of retailers. Unfortunately we have to charge £5 postage and packing on small orders to cover our costs – we do offer free delivery on larger orders (£16 or more).
The Health Warehouse in Darlington. Do they sell your products?
Not yet Annette! But now you’ve brought them to our attention we’ll get in touch.
Thank you.
Josiah
If you plan to head South try Greens in Leigh-on-sea (SS9 2HA) – fantastic store that has been there since I was a nipper! You could also try The Squeeze Cafe on the same road – they do lots of healthy and hearty food and may be interested in your products (http://thesqueezecafe.moonfruit.com/). If you come to London, set up in Borough and Northcote Road Markets, please. I look forward to ordering online soon!
Thanks Emma!
We’ll follow up your southerly suggestions.
We’re also very interested in the market stall idea and have already had a look at a couple of sites London.
Best wishes,
Josiah
Are your fava beans the same as what used to be called Field Beans? I used to buy Field Beans regularly for a favourite recipe I had in a recipe booklet for a cauliflower/bean/tomato/cheesy crumble dish. But haven’t seen them anywhere for years.
Hi Nicola,
Yes exactly the same – fava beans, broad beans, field beans, tick beans, horse beans are all varieties of / names for Vicia faba; the main difference is the size of the bean and our beans will be the same size as those that you used to buy.
We’d love to hear about your recipe, sounds delicious! (in fact we’re about to start a monthly recipe competition… you could be an early winner!)
Best wishes,
Josiah
No pack between 500gms and 12.5 kg? (Except for 12x500gms, 6kg, which costs as much as 12.5kg.) The price for 12.5 kg is very reasonable, but that’s a lot of beans! Can you introduce a 4/5/6kg package at a more reasonable price?
Thanks John,
We’re actually thinking of doing just that – we had a 2kg pack in mind, would that be something you’d be interested in?
The 12.5kg catering sacks are, as you say, a lot cheaper weight for weight than the 500g retail packs: this is mostly down to the extra labour involved in packing them (and a little bit to cover the cost of the packaging itself).
Josiah
I would be interested in 2-3 kg packs. If I order 500g pack it will cost a lot with the postage (5 pounds sounds like much too much) and 12.5 kg pack is too big I do not have storage for it.
Hi Lenka, thanks for your suggestion – we’re certainly thinking about 2kg packs.
Perhaps a more immediate answer would be if you could buy the smaller packs from a shop near you (and so avoid the delivery costs); if you have a particular shop you’d like to be able to buy them from let us know and we’ll get in touch with them.
Josiah
Dear Joshua…..may I suggest, in case you are considering further product development, studying whatever the Spanish and Portugese do to fava beans to make their delicious bottled ‘Alubias’ ? Just salted and cooked is my guess but I cannot emulate the gorgeous flavour starting from dried beans, whereas you presumably have access to the fresh. I buy bottles of Alubias when I am passing Spanish delis in London or at fancy farm shops in the sticks, price for 500g varies from £1.28 to £3.45…..guess which is pricier?
Thanks for the work you do
Hi Jack,
Thanks for your kind words about our work.
We’ll have a look for some Alubias – my understanding is that they are generally a kind of pinto/haricot (Phaseolus varieties – New World beans) rather than fava beans (Vicia faba – Old World beans). But often the old and new world beans and bean names are interchangable and the word ‘fava’ (or variations) in many languages simply means bean (eg haba in Spanish) which adds to the confusion…
Though we don’t have an ideal climate for growing Phaseolus beans on any kind of commercial scale in the UK, we are doing some crop trials this year and hope that we might be able to offer a few varieties in coming years. We’re also looking at other possible products – including bottling and canning (and you’re right, the process leads to a flavour and texture that is very hard to repeat at home) but also things like a British version of habas fritas – those crisp beans snacks the Spanish are so fond of and that are increasingly common here.
Thanks and best wishes,
Josiah
Just in case you ever plan to take your beans across water, there’s a gourmet supermarket in Brussels, Rob’s, which searches out exactly your kinds of products http://www.rob-brussels.be/home.cfm?lang=en
They’ve got some lovely ranges of beans, but I’ve only seen frozen fava there.
Morning there,
can i use your whole fava bean as seed for growing my own beans? If so what variety are they?
Hi, do you guys supply via SUMA cooperative? That would allow you to reach a really large audience.
Hi Carole – We’re working on it… Keep an eye on our website or newsletter for news. Best wishes, Nick
Get your products stocked by healthysupplies.co.uk, they offer a great range of products and brilliant service but zero fava beans, that is why I am here!
Thanks for the suggestion Richard – looks like a great website. We’ll get in touch.
Looking forward to your larger range then will start to test them and include them in the recipes that I compile for the Lewes Food market and TTLewes. We now have some access to local flours here and as a Norfolk girl originally I am very happy to buy British rather than Asian. I encourage people to think about where their food comes from and to enjoy seasonal and local. Preserving just extends our ‘seasonal’ to year round – good stuff.
If you get to sell through Infinity in Brighton then they will sell in Lewes stores too.
I wonder if you’ve thought about doing some sort of starter pack, with a couple of small packets of each of everything plus recipes?
Coming very soon! Should be next week…
do you sell at any outlets in Camden, Islington in London?
Try Farm Direct or Mother Earth, Newington Green
Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, but are you considering producing any soil association certified peas and beans?
We are Jen, in fact we hope to have some organic lines available later this year (probably in the summer).
Best wishes,
Josiah
Very interested to see different pulses with lower than average food miles. Just rustling up a couple of friends to do a bulk order, the 12 mixed packs are a good idea.
If they’re good I shall suggest them to the Real Food Store in Exeter as they’re big on sustainability. We also have a cracking wholefood store, Seasons, in Exeter too if you’re looking for shops to approach.
Have you cooked them like this at all http://www.thedailyspud.com/2009/03/04/posh-spicy-beans/? I haven’t tried the recipe yet as I haven’t founf the dried beans locally but I love the brand that inspired him. I also sometimes buy roast mixed beans in my local supermarket (great alternative to snacking on nuts for someone with a nut allergy like me), but they are in the trendy/healthy/dietfood section and quite pricey. Would love to make my own but the only recipe I’ve found is the one above.
Thanks Rosie, we’ll look forward to your order and hope you like our beans and peas! Let us know if you’d like some of our “Please stock British beans…” postcards to give to your local shops – just email hello@hodmedods.co.uk. We’ll get in touch anyway but it’s always best coming from a customer.
Yes, we’ve spotted those recipes from The Daily Spud and are planning to try them out soon – they look like a great way to cook and eat our split fava beans (a variety of broad bean harvested dry).
I got linked to your website through an ‘eating local’ challenge in Cambridge. As a part time vegan trying to work out where i’d get my protein from from within east anglia :S, and a fan of pulses, and low food miles, it’s heartening to find you! I’ve already suggested one shop in Cambridge stock you – Arjuna Wholefoods, so hopefully they’ll get in touch, and I’ll email the hello@ address to get a few postcards (the other shop I’m thinking of is the Daily Bread Wholefood Co-op in Cambridge). Also I’m curious about where your beans are actually grown? Is it a nationwide source, or more specific? (technically I’m looking for things grown within east-anglia, but I’ll be buying regardless, and it’s just brilliant to see pulses from the uk!
) Many thanks, and best of luck with the whole thing.