‘Great British pea & bean’ specialist Hodmedod’s is launching what it claims are the first UK-sourced baked beans.

Hodmedod’s is using Lincolnshire-grown fava beans (a variety of broad bean dried after harvest) in its canned Baked British Beans instead of haricot beans imported from Canada and the US.

Norfolk-based Hodmedod’s already produces a four-strong range of less well-known UK-grown dried peas and beans. These are sold in retail and catering packs through natural and organic whole foods retailers as well as high-end foodservice, but the business wants to broaden appeal with the expansion into canned products.

Baked British Beans (rsp: £1.19) are launched alongside ready-to-eat fava beans (rsp: 99p) and a spicy organic vaal dhal (rsp: £1.65). The lines are being distributed by health food distributors Tree of Life from January 2014 and the Health Store from February.

“Dried pulses have a loyal but limited following so we wanted to make British-grown legumes more accessible and convenient,” co-founder Nick Saltmarsh said.

The company plans to roll out other ready-to-use products, including lesser-known British pulses such as the black badger pea, described as “halfway between a chickpea and puy lentils”. The ‘forgotten’ fava bean, which has been grown in the UK since the Iron Ages, is more substantial and has more bite than the haricot bean, said Saltmarsh.

Haricot beans are not commercially grown in the UK as they require long hot summers and very cold winters. However, scientists at the University of Warwick Crop Centre are trying to develop a variety that will grow in a British climate.

Hodmedod’s is named after a Norfolk term for hedgehog - but the word can refer to a scarecrow in other parts of the UK.

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