I have eaten mangetout raw till I started growing pea mangetout ‘Blauwschokker’ in my garden. In the past, I have cook lots of mangetout in stir-fries and just boil them. This is a different variety from the supermarket or shop bought ones. They are blue in colour when ripe. The flowers look good as well in the garden. It is possible to look for them with losing its blue colour.
Therefore it’s great to serve in salads especially when they are young and tender. It’s great to eat them raw only when they are young and tender. Once cook it loses the nice deep purple colour to green colour.
Leave it on the plant longer it will turn to become peas then only the peas are eaten not the pod.
Growing ‘Blauwschokker’ pea/ mangetout
They are very to sow from seed. once the risk of frost is over it is possible to sow them directly on the the ground. Spread them apart at least 20 cm so as to give them enough room to grow. Do choose a stringless variety if possible as it will the mangetout quite tough to eat.
Like growing most plants, do plant them on a well drain soil in a sunny spot. As they are climbers do give something to support. As with no support the slugs can get them easily if they are left trailing on the grow. Slugs are a big probelm for gardeners in the UK as the climate is quite damp here. Unlike weather in south like Spain or Italy where the climate is Mediterranean slugs is not much of a probelm.
Peas don’t like their roots to be disturbed therefore many gardeners recommend growing them in used toilet rolls. Personally for me the downside of using toilet roll is that over time fungus can form around toilet rolls due to dampness therefore I don’t use it much. I just plant them out as soon as the peas start to sprout to their 2 true leave.
These variety has got a lovely vivid purple and pink flowers they look very attractive in a garden. I find them much easier to grow than broad beans. For easy to grow crops globe artichoke are great to grow and don’t require much care. It’s a quick crop to grow in comparison to other variety of peas.
Harvesting pea Blauwschokker
Once they finish flowering the peas will form quite quick. Harvest them whenever you like. but as I said before they are great to harvest when they are young and tender.
