Peas bulging in their pods are one of the allotment’s biggest temptations. It’s not easy to walk on by without popping out the tiny green bullets and loading them raw into your mouth, thus never getting a substantial crop back to the kitchen. But, occasional lapse aside, we’ve resisted the urge to eat on site and today picked enough peas to feed one family of four, another family of two and a visiting mother. Topped off with a handful of our now steady supply of broad beans.
But we don’t just rely on the round nibblesome nuggets for our dining pleasure. Now that we’re in full harvest mode we’ll snaffle the tops as well. Removing these will not only help concentrate growing energy into the peas and beans, but the tender tips are also deliciously edible, with my share going into an allotment risotto.
And we don’t stop there. The pods of both legumes get washed and chucked in the freezer until we’ve amassed enough to make a pod wine. The resident bugs, however, we’ll leave behind.
Seeds sown: Peas ‘Onward’ Suttons Seeds
Broad beans ‘Karmazyn’, Suttons Seeds
