Hodmedod is an east Anglian dialect word, used to mean hedgehog in Norfolk and snail in Suffolk. But it really means something round or curled up – conceivably a bean or pea. It’s also the name chosen by a fledgling Norfolk-based bean, pulse and grain business whose British-grown products we are now selling.
Actually not so fledgling because Hodmedod’s won the 2017 BBC Good Farming Producer of the Year award so they’re clearly growing up and doing lots of things right.
It’s always been a mystery to me that we grow so many pulses but, with the exception of frozen peas, feed most of them to animals. Hodmedod’s mission is to put that right and they’ve come up with an innovative and, I think, reasonably priced, range of British peas, beans etc in dried, ground, tinned and roasted (for snacks) forms.
One of the founders, Josiah, was in Totnes just before Christmas for an interview with Transition Town Totnes’ Rob Hopkins – definitely worth a listen.
For me, their most interesting product is a fermented ‘umami’ fava bean paste. I can only describe it as somewhere between miso and marmite, so you might love it or you might hate it but it will definitely bring a bit of savoury richness to everything it touches. At £2.49 for 200g it is definitely my flavour of the month. Add some chilli and it’s a bit like Gochujang – a Korean fermented red chilli paste – so it might well find its way into our Kimchi.
Number two on my Hodmedod’s list are the peas, roasted with horseradish. They give wasabi peas and all thoseSpanish snacks a run for their money and at £2.29 for a pretty big bag it won’t break the bank.
You’ll find UK grown quinoa and quinoa puffs, split yellow and green peas, fava beans, tinned British baked beans, marrowfat peas and barley flakes. 