I decided to sacrifice one more pod of the new purple mangetout so I could try it cooked. I broke it in half and the left half had boiling water poured on and was boiled for 2 minutes. The right half went in a steamer above it. Both lost some of the purple colour which was to be expected. I thought they'd lose more - no doubt if I'd given them the traditional 20 minute boil that sadly often passes for vegetable cooking in Britain, they would have lost all of it.
The purple colour is due to the presence of anthocyanin which I understand is implicated in the mopping up of free radicals in the body and therefore a powerful good food in the fight against cancers. It is water soluble so the foods with this colouring come out disappointingly green if boiled hard. My reason for trying to breed this pea (apart from the usual 'what would happen if ...') was to find a mangetout that I could eat raw with salads but that had the purple colouring.
I realise that most people cook their mangetout peas so for the sake of completeness I tried the cooking processes above. I have to say, even though you'd expect me to 'big it up' seeing as it's my pea, it was absolutely delicious. I would have cooked the steamed one for a couple of minutes more, but they tasted like asparagus. Really lovely. It didn't have the slighly chemical taste that some mangetout peas have when cooked.
I gave Himself a taste - he was unenthusiastic - he doesn't like mangetout peas OR asparagus, so giving him one that tasted like the other was never going to bring the house down!
11 comments:
Ha - my husband doesn't like peas in any shape or form. But at least that means I can go and scoff them straight off the plant (which is how I like 'em) without feeling I'm being greedy.
I know the agonising dilemma about how many pods to taste and how many to save!
ooh, now that sounds like a pea I could really go mad for, we both love asparagus and mangetout.
Not to worry Rebsie - I'm prepared to eat them all by myself if I have to!
I'll put you on my testers list Ali - but it won't be for a couple of years at the earliest.
It's kept a good amount of it's purple colour on cooking, many veg lose it completely. Glad you've managed to get what you was looking for.
I just adore the taste of fresh, sweet peas and pods. Had my first good feed this afternoon. Yes, quite a dilemma to save seed to share or to eat..hmmm
It's not at the sharing stage yet Matron. When I grow the F3s next year it's highly likely (unless I'm dead lucky!) that there'll be a proportion that have white flowers and green pods. It's a few years of selection that will sort that out.
I had a small serving of my purple HSL pea last night, steamed for 2 minutes as per your advice. They lost some colour but still remained thoroughly purple. Didn't notice any asparagus taste though.
We all love peas in this house. I am impatiently waiting for my shelling peas to finish setting and fattening up. The sugar snaps are just now reayd to be harvested (almost!). I can hardly wait for either of them!
Yours isn't a true mangetout though Bilbo. Wait till you try these! (Well, you'll have to - we all will!)
so if I could bear to leave the pods of mine they would swell and become "real" peas?
Yes but purple podded peas aren't very sweet. They can have a slightly bitter aftertaste and go a bit grey when cooked. We still eat them though!
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