Pea Tasting 08

I've several peas growing this year - the very tall Ne Plus Ultra, the very short Norli and Taiwan Sugar (pictured) which is already about 4 foot tall even though I've seen it described as a very short dwarf variety.

And it was from the last two that we had our first harvest of peas over the weekend. They'd been sown in gutters, overwintered in the green house and were planted out in February.

How did they rate?

Well both were sweet as you'd expect from a mangetout variety and delicious served raw in a salad. Both had a crunchy texture though there was a hint of stringyness to the Taiwan and I'll see if this develops as the pods mature. To be honest though I doubt if I could tell them apart in a blind tasting.

Where they really differ is how they look in the plot. Norli is very uniform and short with brilliant ice white flowers. But Taiwan wins on the pretty stakes - many flowers carried higher up in a variety of off-white, pinks and some mauves - a real head turner.

I would grow both again but I'll check how Taiwan develops as the pods mature.