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| We were very excited to discover Abyssinian peas in the John Innes Centre's seed bank and are now running garden trials to find out more about these unusual and beautiful peas from Ethiopia. |
As the name suggests Abyssinian Peas (Pisum abyssinicum) are from Ethiopia, specifically the Highlands - one of the key global sites for crop domestication 10,000 or so years ago and still hugely significant for crop genetic diversity.
Once thought to be a sub-species of Pisum sativum (the cultivated varieties we know and eat), they're now better understood to be their own species, the product of a distinct and different domestication and more closely related to wild peas.
Mike Ambrose, keeper of John Innes Centre's amazing seed bank, gave us a few seeds of two different varieties - one black one green - to experiment with.
This year we'll be trying them on a garden scale, but who knows perhaps they might work at field scale too.
We planted the out in late May and look forward to seeing the results.
We're keen to learn more about the cultural significance and history of these beautiful peas; please do comment if you have any insights!
Hodmedod co-founder Josiah Meldrum describes how Hodmedod emerged from the question of whether we can reliably and sustainably feed ourselves.
Our new organic naked fava beans and yellow peas can be used just like split beans and peas - there are just a few intact whole pulses that will generally split in half when soaked and cooked. But why are some of our beans & peas now naked?
