A Halesworth-based food firm has scooped an organic accolade.

Hodmedod, a purveyor of British beans, peas and quinoa, won the Store Cupboard category for its British Carlin Peas as well as being selected as overall winner in the Pantry section at the BOOM (Best of Organic Market) awards in London this week.

Hodmedod co-founder Josiah Meldrum said: “Delicious and amazingly versatile we’ve always felt carlin peas deserve to be more widely eaten and enjoyed. We’ve spent the last four years telling people about them, getting them into shops and restaurants and working with farmer Mark Lea to grow them organically.

“The award will give them a huge boost and we’re honoured and delighted that the expert judging panel has recognised their virtues - they were in competition with some incredible food and drink from across the UK.”

Carlin peas, served ‘parched’, were once a very common British street food served at festivals and fairs and sold in paper cones in pubs across the northern counties. Hodmedod began working to introduce them to a wider audience in 2012, but could only source them from a handful of specialist growers - none of which were organic - which produced them for export markets, primarily Japan.

In 2014 Hodmedod started working with organic farmer Mark Lea, of Green Acres Farm in Shropshire, to produce a first crop of Organic Carlin Peas and have increased production in 2015 and this year.