Last night I picked some of the Purple Podded Peas - the pods were plump and had a beautiful texture like expensive Italian leather. Inside the peas were tightly packed in a neat row, as the pod is split the peas remain on alternate sides of the pod - neat! I cooked the shelled peas with some pasta to go with a tomato and lamb sauce, they had a soft sweet flavour. The young purple pods picked as mange tout may look cool but to be honest they are a tad stringy (not a good attribute for a mange tout), as mature peas these definitely make the grade. I'll pick a few more to cook, but I'll make sure I save lots to dry to plant next year.
These are really beautiful, and it's great to have a good critique of their attributes. Presumably the leaves are the usual green, but what colour are the flowers?
ReplyDeleteI have some borlotti beans growing just outside my kitchen window; they've just come into bud, and the flowers are white, which I wasn't expecting - I thought they'd be red, or red and white (the beans themselves are those pale ones streaked with red).
Joanna
joannasfood.blogspot.com
I found my purple podded peas less sweet than Alderman for instance, though they were plenty tasty.
ReplyDeleteHi Joanna, if you click on the label link "Purple Podded Peas" you will see the other blog entries charting the progress of the PPPs - the flowers are very pretty.
ReplyDeleteBorlotti beans are great - I love the way the colours on the pods develop. This year I'm growing a climbing bean "Poletschka" (Ukrainian) with little shiny dark indigo beans - not flowering yet; a dwarf bean "Vermont Cranberry" from New England it has cranberry red beans flecked with white and the flowers are creamy-yellow; and a runner bean "Black Salford" scarlet flowers, dark green pods with stunning jet black beans - this is my favourite runner beans and I always save some seed. All from the Heritage Seed Library.
Celia
Hello John,
ReplyDeleteApart from the PPPs I usually just grow "Carouby de Mausanne" mange tout (excellent flavour, but hasn't done well this year). This year I also have a mange tout called "Reuzensuiker" which has been excellent. I haven't tried "Alderman" - have heard it's a good one for flavour.
Celia
The colours are amazing!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy gardening vicariously through your blog!
ReplyDeleteCharlotte
Do those ever look good! I would have a hard time using them since they are so beautiful to look at! You do grow a wide variety of peas!
ReplyDelete