Despite a challenging season, Lincolnshire farmer Andrew Ward has produced a successful crop of British baked beans.
With the help of Warwick University, the variety Capulet was developed to cope with the British climate, after the crop failed last season the 13 acre field delivered a good crop this. Half of the crop will be tinned and half be used as seeds next year.
Mr Ward described the project as ‘turbulent and stressful’ due to weather variability and the need for specialist harvesting machinery. However, this successful harvest does highlight the potential of the new variety.
A staggering two million tins of baked beans is consumed every day by UK consumers, all of them made from haricot grown in other countries such as the US, Canada, Ethiopia and China. Some health food brands have attempted to market British-grown fava beans as ‘baked beans’, but they have lacked mass appeal due to the difference in taste to haricots.
Rebecca White, a crop specialist from agriculture consultants Agrii and a partner on the project, said British families were “baked bean connoisseurs”.
She said: “They will only accept the familiar taste and texture of haricot beans on toast – and this is what we have given them.”
Agrii is a partner on the project and crop specialist Rebecca White suggested British families are ‘baked bean connoisseurs’. “They will only accept the familiar taste and texture of haricot beans on toast – and this is what we have given them.”
