Grains and Seeds

Wholegrain cereals - the unrefined seeds of cereal crops with the bran, endosperm and germ intact and just the husk removed - are most commonly milled for flour but they're excellent cooked whole too. Different species and varieties vary in colour, texture, size and taste, but all have a strong nutty element to their flavour.

A little over 10 years ago Nick, William and I began working with Transition City Norwich on the Resilient Food Project, a community initiative that asked whether the city could feed itself in a low impact, low input way from the fields around its walls and that was the catalyst for Hodmedod. One of the many things we needed to get to grips with was grain, flour and bread (we're still on that journey). Here Charlotte Du Cann, writing in 2009, records one of our early explorations into fields and bakeries.

As usual this year's weather is proving utterly different from last year, when the Beast From The East severely delayed planting of spring crops, resulting in reduced yields and some quality. 

Professor Martin Wolfe was a great friend and mentor to us. A true pioneer, Martin pursued his research into agroforestry, co-cropping, crop populations, new crop trials and more at his Suffolk farm Wakelyns. Believing that sustainability depended not just on a whole farm approach but on radical change to the whole food system, he shared his expertise widely and generously. Martin died peacefully at home earlier this month. He leaves a lasting legacy of work, not least his YQ wheat population, and his memory will remain a guiding inspiration to us.

Pioneering farmers Peter and Andrew Fairs, of Great Tey in Essex, have successfully grown the first ever crop of British chia. These tiny oil-rich seeds represent another step in Hodmedod's mission to increase the diversity of both British farming and British diets.

Professor Colin Leakey was a true pioneer of beans and other food crops. This article, The Nine Lives of Colin Leakey, was first published in Pulse magazine in 2017 and surveys the many aspects of his extraordinary life.

It's wonderful to see Professor Martin Wolfe's pioneering work on agroforestry reported in the The Guardian & reaching a wider audience. Martin is a long-time friend and mentor to Hodmedod, and grows naked barley, lentils, wheat and more for us. His whole farm system approach and drive for diversity at every level are an inspiration to us

We’re over the moon to be one of three finalists for the Best Producer category of the 2017 BBC Food and Farming Awards. It’s a testament to the many wonderful farmers and producers we work with – and to the potential of British farming to produce an ever wider variety of foods.

After a global search for seed, a couple of years of trials (and several months working out how to flake and mill it) we’ve finally welcomed organic naked barley into the Bean Store.

BBC Radio 4's Food Programme investigates pulses from Britain and further afield to mark the UN International Year of Pulses. Hodmedod's Nick Saltmarsh joined Sheila Dillon, Jenny Chandler and Sanjay Kumar in discussion at the BBC's Bristol studios.

Three of Hodmedod's British-grown pulse and grain products are among the 2016 Great Taste awards winners! We're delighted that the quality and taste of our Yellow Pea Flour, canned Carlin Peas and British Quinoa have been recognised in these acclaimed awards, widely considered as the benchmark for fine food and drink in the UK.

If you are following a gluten-free diet it's not always easy to buy British ingredients with clear provenance. Hodmedod has now launched a range of gluten-free flours, all milled in Essex from pulses and quinoa grown on British farms.