Booths full of beans this June

Yorkshire vegetable producer-packer Scholes is to supply north-west supermarket chain Booths with frozen Flageolet beans this month.

Flageolet beans, often described as the “caviar of beans”, are currently only available in the UK dried or in tins. The new frozen Flageolet bean from Scholes will combine the convenience of tinned beans with all the benefits and taste of the fresh product.

Scholes grows the largest crop of Flageolet beans in northern Europe, and this year it plans to produce 250 tonnes of the vegetable from carefully selected land on its farm in the Yorkshire Wolds.

This year’s Flageolet beans are now being drilled, and are sown in rows that are 500mm apart, with 250,000 plants per hectare.

Mark Southwell, Scholes sales and marketing executive, said: “We are delighted to be supplying Booths, and to be associated with such a distinguished retailer is very exciting. Booths has recognised that we are offering a unique product, and has been very proactive in making sure it is the first retailer to have UK-produced frozen Flageolet beans on its shelves.”

Harvesting Flageolets is a very specialist operation, which only takes place in the late summer when the condition of the Flageolet is exactly right.

The beans are shelled from the pod and then transported to be frozen within two hours of being picked. They are then packaged in Scholes’ own newly designed bags.

Flageolet beans are very popular with chefs, as they hold their shape well during cooking, have a delicate flavour and are creamy and dense in texture.

TV chef Rachel Green has devised a raft of recipes to showcase the new product, one of which can be found on the new Scholes bean package. The Scholes website features many more.

Scholes is also in talks with other major retailers about stocking the Flageolet beans.