Here are just a few pictures of lupins I’ve grown in my garden (click the pictures for more information)! Lupins have been grown for food since ancient times in the Mediterranean countries (>3000 years) and in the Andes (>6000 years)….. There’s been an upsurge in interest and cultivation of lupins for food in recent years as they can be made into the gluten-free lupini flour, but some people with peanut allergy (peanut is also a legume) are also allergic to these…look carefully at the ingredient list as lupini flour is even used in Norway!
I’ve never tried Lupinus angustifolius which I’ve heard is cultivated for food in Germany (recently developed low alkaloid varieties)!
However, it’s the development of low alkaloid varieties of perennial Lupinus nootkatensis that I most look forward to trying as there are few perennial bean crops!!
Lupinus mutabilis – an annual cultivated in the Andes since ancient times. Read more in Lost Crops of the Incas…my summer is too short and cold for them to mature outside, but I’ve grown a few in my old cold greenhouse… I prefer not to have a greenhouse now and only grow hardy crops, so I won’t be trying again until someone selects a more cold-hardy variety :) They are also sometimes grown as ornamentals and I grew a variety called Sunrise once. Others I’ve tried are K’ayra and var. cruickshankii
Lupinus mutabilis “Sunrise” on my balcony in 2014, flowered well but produced no mature pods..
Lupinus mutabilis “Sunrise” on my balcony in 2014
Lupinus albus – this picture was taken in October 2016 in the Stavanger botanics in an area devoted to pulses (it’s the International Year of Pulses! The seed were almost ripe. I once grew a variety called “Edible Large Seed” sourced from Seed Savers Exchange in the US, but yield was poor (1 bean!!)
Lupinus albus in Stavanger
Lupinus albus in Stavanger
Lupinus luteus has been used as a green manure in Norway; low alkaloid varieties were selected in the past for food
Lupinus nootkatensis is black listed here in Norway (invasive). In Iceland, I’ve heard that some work has been carried out on low alkaloid varieties (I’ve just been in touch with an Icelandic researcher about this). This is very exciting to me as lupins represent probably the best cold hardy perennial bean!! More later!
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
