When we think of growing our own food at home we tend to think of fruit and vegetables. Tomatoes, salads, carrots, potatoes, apples, blackcurrants – a supply of fresh produce from the garden makes all the difference in the kitchen. But it’s also possible, and fun, to grow foods that we associate more with the store cupboard, like grains and pulses. Usually grown on arable farms, and often imported, these foods are a good source of protein and have a fascinating history too.
Pulses are a good place to start. These are the seeds of the legume family (peas and beans) which are left on the plant until they are dry, and then stored. When you want to eat them, you soak and boil them, and they are great in stews and soups, or mashed into a paste like hummus.
Although we tend to think of imported products like chickpeas and lentils, in fact pulses have long had a place in traditional English cuisine (I don't know about Wales). Think of mushy peas, pease pudding and the Carlin pea, eaten on Carlin Sunday in the north of England.
To get an idea of the pulses that can be grown in the UK, and how to eat them, take a look at the Hodmedod’s website. This company, based in East Anglia, works with farmers to produce pulses, grains and flours, many of them available to buy in wholefood shops, and now Tesco is following their example.
In Wales, field peas and beans are grown mainly to feed to livestock, where they do a good job of substituting for soya that is imported from areas that used to be rainforest. What place they had in Welsh food history, it would be interesting to know - maybe not much - but it does look like they could have a future.
One pulse that grows well in the UK is the field bean, which is the same species as the broad bean (Vicia faba) and sounds much more appetizing under its other name, the fava bean. This is a staple of Middle Eastern cookery, and indeed the UK exports fava beans to Egypt, where they are made into ful medames and falafel.
As a legume, fava beans fix nitrogen, meaning that no nitrogen fertiliser needs to be added to the soil. They are rich in protein, fibre, folate, and B vitamins. They also contain isoflavones, which have powerful antioxidant properties and help boost immunity. Next to soyabeans, the field bean is one of richest sources of protein of all the pulses (~26 % in UK-grown crops).
A recent Garden Organic members’ experiment found that field beans were more productive in home gardens than broad beans, and 70% of people liked the flavour.
Fava beans are a focus of interest in the Dyfi Biosphere, as it happens, and our neighbours at IBERS have a very successful breeding programme: six of the eight varieties recommended by PGRO (Processors and Growers Research Organisation) of winter beans were bred at Aberystwyth. Meanwhile, Tilly Gomersall has been running her own experiments as part of Tyfu Dyfi.
But back to gardening. Pulses are easy to grow and there are plenty of varieties to try. These include the French or kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), which comes in many shapes and sizes and can be grown up canes or in bush form. Then there are drying peas, like the Latvian variety we grew at Penglais last year, while the big white beans that feature in Greek cookery as gigantes are actually a type of runner bean.
The Real Seeds Company is a good place to look for peas and beans, as well as soyabeans and even lupins. The Heritage Seed Library (now closed until next winter) has plenty too. Then there is the Wales Seed Hub, a new venture that includes a borlotti bean bearing the unlikely name of District Nurse, which hails from Merthyr Tydfil. Or you can buy Hodmedod’s products and just sow those (their blue peas are great for pea shoots, too).
Here at Penglais Community Garden we have a selection of seeds saved from last year, and we’ll be doing more trials this year. Last year, we sowed 10 seeds of a very pretty brown and white bean called Box and got over 250 back, for very little work (and I’m told this is on the low side!). They were very tasty in a casserole.
Why not try some pulses too, and let us know how you get on?
Text: Jane Powell. Images: Tilly Gomersall.