Glentham: Garden centre reveals first ever baked bean plant

The navy bean, also known as the haricot bean, commonly ends up on our plates with a tomato-based sauce as baked beans.

Hundreds of millions of cans of baked beans are consumed every year in the UK, yet the beans are grown outside of the UK, due to the lack of varieties that are suited to British growing conditions.

However, that may be all about to change.

The Willows Garden Centre at Glentham has revealed a remarkable new plant that is available in the UK for the first time.

Not only have they identified a variety of haricot bean that grows well in the UK, they have also taken that bean plant and crossed it with a tomato plant to get a new plant that produces baked beans.

The plant, known as a Baked Bean Bush, produces beans that taste just like baked beans out of a tin, that can be picked and eaten straight off the plant, or can be heated up with some tomato-based sauce and served on toast.

David Nelstrop, the owner of The Willows, said; “This is something that we have been working on for a few years and we’ve finally got it right.”

The Garden Centre is already in talks with a major baked bean manufacturer to supply the UK market.