Hodmeblog

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.

Chef James Taylor has been working since mid 2023 to transform school meals initiatives at two London primary schools - Sir Thomas Abney School in Stoke Newington and Harrington Hill Primary School in Clapton. The London Mayor's initiative to provide universal free school meals in primary schools from September 2023 is both a crucial lifeline for families nit by the cost-of-living crisis and an inspiration for change. James and the school have used this opportunity to provide meals that champion more nutritious, planet-friendly food.

A few years ago we were looking for a sweetener for some granola recipes, something UK produced and minimally processed. When our apple syrup order from Liberty Fields arrived we knew we were onto something special - we quickly added them to our short list of brilliant Guest Producers

We've launched ten pulses and grains from British farms as part of Holland & Barrett's transformation of their food range, available in their stores across the UK. It's a fantastic opportunity to make British-grown fava beans, carlin peas and quinoa, along with other pulses and cereals, available more widely and to support more diverse farming.

Down a warren of country lanes, not far from the Tamar Valley in Cornwall, is Julie Bailey's orchard Lower Trelabe, where she grows historic local varieties of apple and makes her delicious Apple Natural apple shreds, traditional fruit leathers that contain only the natural plant sugars.

Naked barley is best for food use but modern barley is mostly covered or hulled. 8,000 years ago barley mutated and lost its ability to tightly stick the husk to the grain. Naked barley grain freely sheds its husks when harvested and can be eaten as a wholegrain without processing, with its full flavour and nutrition.

At the same time as forming a trading relationship with the Kayapo, helping them protect the forest by buying Brazil nuts, we've been working with Sustain, Feedback, the LWA and Pasture for Life, to produce a report, Soy No More: Breaking away from soy in UK pig and poultry farming. Soy No More offers three scenarios that would see UK farming significantly reduce its reliance on imported soy and consequently relieve pressure on threatened tropical forests.

Milling your own flour may seem a novel concept but there's a long tradition of domestic milling. Since the dawn of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent, cereal grains have been a key staple food and bread, in many forms, has provided a large part of our energy requirements, right up to today. But to turn grain into bread, you need a mill.

Buy PI'Y Brazil nuts to strengthen the Kayapó people, their culture and the Amazon rainforest they protect and depend on. The Land Workers' Alliance, Roddick Foundation, Hodmedod and Kayapó-led cooperative COOBÂ-Y have come together to build a new direct trade relationship in solidarity with the Indigenous fight for survival, bringing wild-harvested nuts directly from the Kayapó people of Brazil to the UK for the first time.

With 72% of UK land managed for agriculture, farming as a key role to play in protecting and even restoring biodiversity. Thankfully more farms are showing how this can be done both within and around productive land. The organic fields at Green Acres Farm in Shropshire are filled with diversity.

Supermarket shelves empty of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, and other out-of-season vegetables in recent weeks betray our precarious food system. A mirage of abundance hides a fragile system of imported foods, just-in-time supply chains, and fossil fuel dependence.

In our work at Hodmedod we celebrate and enjoy pulses every day of the year, but World Pulses Day is an opportunity to step back and consider the wider picture. Pulses really can play a crucial role in mitigating the global challenges of poverty, food security and nutrition, human health, and soil health.