Hodmedod 3.44

Early in 2012, working with Transition Norwich, we came across dried fava beans as part of a project looking at the ingredients for a more sustainable and resilient diet. The beans are grown widely in East Anglia and exported all over the world where they're enjoyed in a multitude of traditional recipes - including ful medames, houmous, falafel, crisp snacks, soups, stews, curry and dal...

Yet in Britain they're used as animal feed (and as a useful break crop that fixes nitrogen). It seems that three or four hundred years ago we simply lost our taste for the humble fava bean, preferring legumes like lentils and chickpeas which are hard to grow in the UK.

We ran a trial and gave away or sold 2 tonnes of beans - people loved them! And so in the Autumn of 2012, with the new season bean harvest, we launched Hodmedod Ltd - Now everyone can share in the delights of the fava bean...

Since 2012 we've pioneered British-grown quinoa and added a much wider range of peas and beans (including organic, canned prepared foods and snacks). There's a lot more to come!

(Hodmedod is a local dialect word - in Suffolk it means snail and in Norfolk hedgehog)