Easybean

Two Golds for our Seasonal Pots

pulses — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:03:23 +0000

We seem to be doing well with the awards this summer. Our English Potager and French Cuisinées have won Gold Great Taste Awards 2010. And we were thrilled to hear we have been selected as a finalist for the Nestlé Wellness Award; we are presenting to the judges at the beginning of September. The award is for innovation in making healthy food more accessible. Potentially a David & Goliath story as the other finalists are Tesco, Unilever and Birdseye! So wish us luck.

Easy Bean Hits The Local Headlines

pulses — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:22:17 +0000

In June 2010, Easy Bean makes it to the headlines of the Western DailyPress ( the biggest local daily in the Somerset area) and this is what they said about us……

Big benefits of being full of beans

Christina Baskerville, MD and bean maestro at Easy Bean PICTURE: Fran Stothard.

It is, declares Christina Baskerville, one of our great British dietary contradictions.

We are the world’s greatest consumers of the baked bean.

Yet, when it comes to consuming other similarly healthy pulses, we have scant knowledge or regard for them.

She may, though, be helping to change that attitude, thanks to her one-pot meals created in Somerset that are now available at a supermarket near you.

You may have already seen Christina’s Easy Bean meals on the shelves of Waitrose and John Lewis food halls.

They are certainly catching on and the fact that one of the nation’s most prominent supermarket names has seen fit to stock them has given the product a truly hefty endorsement.

“Easy Bean began in 2007 but before that I had done a lot of market research and got the name and identity established,” said Christina.

“I used the Farmers Market in Bristol for research, by trying to reach an urban audience, targeting the young professional who wants to eat healthily.”

The bean-based one-pot comes in various recipes, such as Moroccan tagine, Indian sambar and New Mexican chilli. Chickpeas, butter beans, red and brown beans all feature.

The pots are designed to be heated in the microwave.

The recipes, says the company, “elevate the humble pulse to superfood status.”

“They are for eating, predominantly, at lunchtime, though it can also be a supper,” Christina adds.

It’s been a reasonably swift upward climb to success for Easy Bean.

They launched in 2007 at a London food fair and by 2008 had done enough to get their first listing from Waitrose, selling in their convenience stores.

“We have done very well and now we’re in the main Waitrose ones”

Locally you can find them at Waitrose in Bath, Weston-Super-Mare, Crewkerne, Poole, Salisbury, and Ringwood from mid-June.

Easy Bean’s base is South Barrow near Yeovil in South Somerset.

Christina has been there for a while, though. She said: “I came down to the West Country at the beginning of the 1990s and got involved in a speciality meat business called Barrow Boar, one of the first to be selling wild boar meat in the UK.

“I settled and sold the company after seven years and went off to work for a cheese company as commercial manager.

“I used to work in tropical agricultural in Central and South America and Africa. That is where the ‘bean maestro’ title comes from. I have worked with legumes and pulses in the Tropics, where they are exceedingly important as they put nitrogen back into the soil.”

Home for the 52-year-old is some nine miles away near Sherborne and the business employs a staff of five, some part-time, some freelance.

“One of our hopes is that we encourage the consumer to get more informed about beans, what they look like, where they come from.

“Without knowing it we are already a nation of bean lovers (we are the world’s largest consumer of baked beans) – they just don’t realise they are pulses. It’s ironic, as they came from America where they don’t eat them.”

Easy Bean, she says, is “pretty ambitious and keen not to let some of the people who have copied the idea try and steal the show.

“We think what we make has a lot of advantages.

“Ours have a distinctive home- made quality and they are made in low batches _ with low fat, high fibre, no salt and all gluten free.”

Each pot also provides two to three portions of our five-a-day fruit and vegetables requirement.

Jack & the Bean Stalk

pulses — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:30:47 +0000

Rose's Jack & the Bean Stalk

Jack and his Easy Bean Stalk

Jack takes third prize at the Queen Camel annual scarecrow competition. Obviously Jack has good taste as he has munched through his fair share of easy beans. His creator Rose, who is a valued Easy Beaner, tells me that prior to Jack and his jolly old bean stalk going on display in their front garden, he was lurking in their cottage and gave Tony her husband a real fright!

Guess the bean at the Real Food Festival

pulses — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:59:59 +0000

Back from the festival and lots to do, not least tend to our young bean plants and draw out our winner of the guess the bean competition. We have sent an email to Annetta Norris but no reply, so we may have to draw out another name.

We promised that we would anounce the correct answers, so here goes:
1. Runner bean
2. Broad bean
3. Borlotti bean
4. Chickpea
5. Pea
6. Lentil

The young bean line up

Palava scores again in GTA 2009

pulses — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:44:15 +0000

Our African Palava is obviously well loved; it’s just been awarded another Gold Great Taste Award 2009

Returning from the Real Food Festival

pulses — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:32:45 +0000

We were feeling very weary on Monday after 3 days at the Real Food Festival in London, but what a great extravaganza of delicious food. I loved the relaxed & informal atmosphere and all the small producers from all over the country. Good to catch up with old friends and also good to offer tastings of easy beans to new palates!

Thought I ought to make an effort - I’ve been pretty useless at posting up our news, my excuse is we always seem to be busy. I look forward to having a few more staff to help with the 101 things to do. I did want to mention that we are going into Ocado this week, only the 3 veg pots but they are on special introductory offer so did give them a go if you haven’t tried them yet and let us know how you serve them.

Easy Bean on the web

admin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:41:36 +0000

Well, old bean, it’s been a long time coming but we finally have a bit more web presence. And mighty pleased we are with it too. When I’m not cooking pan-fulls of beans then I’ve been tapping away in the evening dreaming of interesting things to say about beans! I’d be interested to hear what you think? I feel particularly chuffed with the bit on how beans benefit the environment, I guess it highlights all that stuff we used to go on about when we worked in agricultural development.

Review - The Blackmore Vale

admin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:27:16 +0000

Bring on the beans

BEANS are not every Englishman’s first choice of food, but perhaps it is time they were given a little bit more street cred. Peas, beans and lentils, collectively known as pulses, come in dozens of varieties with a host of flavours and textures. Pulses form an important source of protein and iron for the human diet. They also take on the flavours of other ingredients extremely well - whether it’s a heady mix of garlic and ginger in Indian dhal or the meaty flavour of sausage in a typically Andalusian stew of chickpeas and pork. View the full online article on the Blackmore Vale website

Review - Food Magazine

admin — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:19:45 +0000

Easy peasy supper

Okay, okay, you know we’re all for proper cooking at home, but for those nights when you’re just too tired to get chopping, there’s a definite place for these new, chilled Easy Bean meals. They’re as close to home-cooked as you’ll get in a tub and are locally made to boot. The range includes veggie and meaty dishes such as the Moroccan tagine (chickpea, aubergine and apricot) and the Spanish puchero (butter beans with chorizo sausage). Serve with flat bread or a pile of rice and go put your feet up.

Review - Marshwood Vale Magazine

pulses — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:23:34 +0000

Bean feasting by Nichola Motley

DO you have one of these? A cupboard in the corner of the kitchen full of sad looking dusty glass jars containing greying pellets. These jars once held the promise of a zingy new you. A leaner and fitter you, a you who’d be wearing strappy summer dresses or getting back into that pair of jeans which have been lurking in the bottom of your wardrobe for too long. Download PDF article