Hodmeblog

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.

We're getting very excited about Bristol Food Connections, an amazing festival of more than 100 events across the city & through the week of 11th to 17th June. We're involved in a few things...

Jenny Linford's book The Missing Ingredient: The Curious Role of Time in Food and Flavour explores the critical part that time plays in food production and cooking. In this extract from the Hours chapter Jenny talks to Hodmedod co-founder Nick Saltmarsh and considers the history of the British relationship with pulses.

The first ever British Dal Festival ran in Bristol from 19th to 25th March 2018. The festival celebrated simple but sublime dals of peas, beans and lentils, alongside sister pulse dishes from Britain’s mushy peas to Mexico’s refried beans.

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

Hodmedod won two awards at the 2017 Good Choice! Quality Food Awards. Our Yellow Pea Flour and Roasted Green Peas with Horseradish were both category winners, while our Lightly Salted Roasted Fava Beans were highly commended.

How do you eat your peas? Whole or soft? Parched or mushy? Black or green? Carlin or marrowfat? (We’re talking proper dried peas here, not those Johnny-come-lately immature fresh “garden pea” imposters*.)

Wow, we won! We're over the moon to have won Best Food Producer in the 2017 BBC Food and Farming Awards.

After three years of research and crop trials we started harvesting the first commercial crop of British-grown lentils at the end of August. Over the next few weeks six farms in Suffolk, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire and Sussex will harvest a range of organic and non-organic lentils.

We’ve an exciting autumn ahead. We're with River Cottage at Borough Market all September, at the Abergavenny Food Festival on 16/17 September, and at the Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival on 23/24 September. The winners of the BBC Food & Farming Awards will be announced and we and our growers will be busy harvesting quinoa, lentils and beans. And don't miss our Organic September special offers!