Pea shoots

As well as the viability of the bean seeds in the Reading Food Growing Network's seed swap boxes I have been testing the pea seeds as well. Rather than throw away the germinated pea seeds - it's too cold to plant them outside at the moment - I have been putting them in pots on the window sill to grow pea shoots for food.

They are very easy and quick to grow and we've already had our first "crop". Further details on how to grow them together with a video are at How to grow pea shoots.

Our first cut yielded just 96g (3.4 oz) but enough to add to lunch as a green salad. They can be added to stir fry dishes, eaten raw, used in sandwiches instead of lettuce or cress, and included in risottos. We'll see how many cuts we get from each pot but it seems that most people manage to do two or three before the shoots become too stringy and lose taste.





So our lunch consisted of vegetable biryani (parsnip, squash. swiss chard, onion, garlic), dhal, homemade yogurt with spring onions and garlic, and pea shoots.