Carlin peas - sometimes also known as brown, maple or pigeon peas are a great substitute for chickpeas – they have a similar nutty taste and are much easier to grow in this country. In most areas of the UK, they are a forgotten food, but you will still find them in specific regions such as Lancashire or Newcastle where they are eaten out of a cup, sprinkled with salt and vinegar. In fact they have a long history, dating back to the 12th century.

It's only more recently they’ve had a revival, especially with the company, Hodmedods marketing carlin peas grown in Gloucestershire and Shropshire. The consumption of UK pulses has fallen over the last 100 years, where they’ve been relegated to an accompanying side dish. We‘re all aware that we need to increase the proportion of protein that we get from plants in our diet to reduce our climate impact. Let’s see if we can play our part while finding something tasty to grow!

Our Heritage Seed Library has several varieties of pea that are good for drying: the Latvian grey pea is similar to a Carlin pea with a lovely nutty taste and is traditionally eaten at Christmas. We will also be sending out a standard variety of Carlin pea.

Please join Garden Organic to take part in this experiment