Lupin beans!

[Wendy]

Hi i have heard about Lupin beans............and i have some seeds........am i right in thinking i can grow them and eat them????? if so does anyone have any advice on growing them???
Thanks

[Alison]

What are they?

[Snadger]

I know lupins can be grown as a green manure crop, but as far as I know they are poisonous to eat!

[terrier]

Evidently we can blame the Romans for introducing these plants to this country.
See here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupin
If you do a search for Lupin Beans, there's quite a bit about them on the WWW. Including Lupin allergies. I don't think I'll be eating any!

[Alice]

Wendy, I've always grown Lupins (big sentimental attachment to them) but I've never heard of anyone eating any part of them. From all I can find out it could be a dodgy business.. I would just grow them for the flowers. If you want to eat something just grow runner beans.

[Nicos]

Is this what you have???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupini_Beans

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/Environmental.../lupinbean.asp

Never heard of them before!!!

[almendro]

Here in Andalucia Spain it is common to eat lupin seeds. They are called Altramuces and it is possible to buy them in the supermarket (mercadona). They are soaked in water and salted to get the bitter alkaloids out. They are very tasty and go well with beer. In the same way that peanuts are. I eat them in salads a lot.

They are poisonous if more than 30% of your diet is made up of them. After the Spanish civil war people were starving and some people ate a lot of them and in some cases too many.

There are now totally non poisonous lupin seeds called sweet lupin. Apparently the edible type of lupins are white lupins.

I have looked at a few places on internet and it is possible to buy seeds but they are expensive maybe 2 euros for 20. I have also seen them sold by the kilo. I wonder if I bought a kilo of them they would grow??

Growing lupin seeds for eating seems a good idea I wonder if anyone has any info or experience.

[zazen999]

Yes, in the UK they need a decent heat! If it goes cool after a warm spell they sulk like crazy.

[vicky]

They're called lupino beans too, I've tried growing them without success. I think they required lots of preparation before eating - more than the usual soak and boil.

[Two_Sheds]

I've just planted out a tray of lupini (seeds bought at one of the gardening shows)

Know your Lupini bean - Know your Vegetables

Lupini Beans

[Two_Sheds]

I've just planted out a tray of lupini

And they did really well, but I never got around to eating them, just saved the seed - which I've just found at the bottom of my seed box

[purplekat]

Real seeds are doing seeds this year that don't need any prep before eating, although out of stock now
Edible Lupin Seeds to buy in the UK from The Real Seed Catalogue

Warning from Real seeds "Note that these are special lupins, you cannot eat seeds from normal decorative lupin plants"

[ecudc]

Probably you would want to grow them fresh each year from certified seed unless you were sure they couldn't be cross contaminated. I think I may stick to broad beans