[Sephiroth]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/202...-seed-climate/

It is the most British of foods, and now the baked bean may finally be grown on English soil.

The haricot bean is the key, and main, ingredient in a tin of baked beans and the UK is the dominant market for the product, with Britons purportedly eating more than the rest of the world combined.

However, the climate is not conducive to actually growing the beans on British soil, which means millions of tonnes of haricot beans are imported every year from Canada, the US, Ethiopia and China.

But now a team of scientists from the University of Warwick have selected three varieties of haricot bean which they believe have the perfect qualities to allow them to be planted, grown and harvested in the UK. The three varieties are named Godiva, Capulet and Olivia, respectively.

The scientists carefully bred the three varieties over the last decade from existing lineages to create three haricot bean varieties that are likely well-adapted to British conditions.

It is hoped that growing the staple, non-perishable and versatile food domestically will cut down on the need for imports, reducing emissions and boosting the robustness of Britain’s food supply chain.

“We’ve got three different colours but all of them are haricot beans, they are different varieties of the same species of haricot beans. A white one, a black one and a brown one,” Prof Eric Holub from the University of Warwick, who has led the 12-year project, told The Telegraph.

The team first planted the beans as part of a small trial at a Lincolnshire field, near Leadenham, last year but the heatwave and drought led to them failing.

But the Warwick team, in partnership with the agricultural company Agrii and farmer Andrew Ward, are now embarking on a full-field attempt.

Mr Ward, who is tasked with cultivating the first ever UK crop of baked beans, said: “It’s the first commercial-scale planting of a variety of haricot beans that could end up in a can on everybody’s supper table.

“At the moment we don’t have any beans that are grown here that are suitable for baked beans, our climate isn’t right for producing this type of bean.”

The field was drilled in mid May and the beans are now being grown with the help of irrigation in Lincolnshire. It is hoped they will be harvested in the first week of September, but it remains to be seen if the first British-grown tins will actually make it on to a portion of toast or as a vital fry-up component .........

There's now a chance for Wokerati joy if Heinz match the bean to tin colour!