British-grown beans on toast could soon be on breakfast menus up and down the country after a crop of haricot beans was successfully harvested in the UK for the first time.
Farmers had previously been unable to grow the variety because it was unsuited to the country’s climate, meaning the UK had to rely on imported beans to fuel its habit of two million tins of baked beans per day.
However, in what has been described as a ‘very exciting’ breakthrough, scientists have now developed a specially adapted seed that can thrive in British soil.
It took 12 years and involved ‘one of the most stressful experiments’ because of the unpredictable weather, but experts hope the result will be an in ingredient loved by ‘baked bean connoisseur’ British families.
Traditionally, baked beans have been predominantly sourced from overseas markets in the US, Canada, Ethiopia and China because of the specific climate and soil requirements needed for their successful cultivation.
Breakthrough: British-grown beans on toast could soon be on breakfast menus up and down the country after a crop of haricot beans was successfully harvested in the UK for the first time. The new variety of baked bean has been named the Capulet (middle, top uncooked and bottom cooked). Scientists also grew two other types of bean, Godiva (left) and Olivia (right)
History: Traditionally, baked beans have been predominantly sourced from overseas markets in the US, Canada , Ethiopia and China because of the specific climate and soil requirements needed for their successful cultivation
Farmer Andrew Ward, who grew the legumes in a 13-acre field in Leadenham, said: ‘The only seed that is available in the world of this variety is what we have here.
‘We need to replant next year to grow the availability of British baked beans and reduce our reliance on imports.’
Half of the crop successfully harvested is now due to be tinned, while the other half will be used as seeds next year.
These can be sown in early May and harvested in September so they grow in Britain’s warmest and sunniest months.
Professor Eric Holub, from the University of Warwick, said the beans had been created from ‘conventional plant breeding’.
He added that the new variety had been bred from ‘inherited material that had been used here on the university farm in the 1970s and 80s’.
Research into creating a haricot bean that could grow in Britain began around this time, with three varieties being produced in the mid-1980s and named Edmund, Marcus and Adrian after Shakespeare characters.
One of those, Edmund, is the parent bean to the new variety which has now been successfully harvested for the first time.
It has been named the Capulet to keep with the Shakespeare theme.
‘The other parent was a heritage variety that looks like a blonde kidney bean and is known to grow in the British sunshine,’ Professor Holub told MailOnline.
He said the key was to create a seed that produced a variety of bean that was disease resistant, capable of thriving in the UK’s summer months and which grew taller than usual so as to better cater for being harvested by combine harvesters.
‘If we had just used a variety grown in Canada, for example, it would not be ready to harvest until about 3 or 4 weeks after the Capulet version,’ Professor Holub explained, ‘and by this time it would be too late because Britain’s rain arrives.’
The University of Warwick team say their harvested beans are part of a ‘small scale grassroots’ project, but that the aim is to increase public interest in them to potentially offer them more widely commercially.
‘Zero plastic’ samples of the Capulet beans are due to be sold in several stores across the Midlands next year — with more information to follow via the University of Warwick’s social media accounts.
The team behind the bean: Farmer Andrew Ward (pictured left) grew the legumes in a 13-acre field in Leadenham. Professor Eric Holub (right), from the University of Warwick, said the beans had been created from ‘conventional plant breeding’
Popular: Henry Heinz launched his baked beans in the US in 1895 and brought them to the UK nine years later (stock image)
Several health food brands have previously tried to market UK-grown fava beans as baked beans, but because of their difference in taste to haricots they failed to take off.
Rebecca White, a crop specialist from agriculture consultants Agrii and a partner on the project, told the BBC that families in the UK were ‘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,’ she said.
Growing haricot beans on a commercial scale in the UK will help reduce food miles and improve soil structure, scientists say.
‘Ensuring we can produce our own food is crucial in lessening our impact on the planet. British-grown beans can play a big part in shaping a healthier future for all of us,’ Professor Holub previously said.
‘They’re a fantastic addition to our diets and contribute to the rise of flexitarian eating habits.’
Baked beans are believed to be based on a Native American dish in which beans were cooked with fat and maple syrup.
Henry Heinz launched his baked beans in the US in 1895 and brought them to the UK nine years later.