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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!
Have you driven or cycled past our front door and wondered what goes on behind it? Last June we opened our big Bean Store doors for a chance to shop with us in person and have a look behind the scenes. It was such a success we're now opening monthly through the spring and summer.
On the Essex coastline, where arable fields meet salt marsh and sea air, Frinton Farms is quietly doing something remarkable. What began as a traditional arable operation has, over the past decade, evolved into one of the UK’s only producers of pumpkin seed oil and snacking seeds – supplying Hodmedod with nutrient-rich pumpkin seed oil, golden linseed and roasted seeds.
Hodmedod's pop-up Shop! will be open again on Saturday 7th February alongside Barleybird's annual Seed Swap.
