Earthnut Pea (Lathyrus tuberosus) potted plant
£8.00
SUPPLIED AS A PLANT IN A 1L POT ( THERE ARE SEVERAL SPROUTED TUBERS IN EACH POT)
An ancient perennial vegetable with ‘tuberous peas’ which can be cooked in many ways and have a nutty taste.
Awaiting Re-stock
We can email you when it's back ...
Description
Earthnut pea (Lathyrus tuberosus) is an underrated ancient perennial vegetable. This attractive leguminous and nitrogen fixing hardy perennial is grown for its subterranean ‘tuberous peas’ which can be cooked in many ways, roasted or boiled and have a delicious nutty taste. It has branched stolons on which root knots form. The foliage is very pretty and the flowers are vivid pink and sweet scented. It can be given climbing support or left to trail. Also known as Aardaker or tuberous pea. Please note: *TUBERS ARE EDIBLE*, leaves and flowers and seeds are *NOT EDIBLE*. This plant is rare and almost impossible to find in the UK, before brexit, seeds and tubers were widely available to order from Europe but this is no longer the case. We were lucky enough to have a batch of seeds back in 2018 and have been steadily trying to multiply plants and tubers since then. It is a tuber crop worthy of more attention and there are several breeding programs going on to try and select for larger tuber size.
How to grow
An easily grown plant, succeeding in any moderately good garden soil. It likes a sunny position but can tolerate a little bit of dappled shade. A climbing plant, scrambling through other plants and supporting itself by tendrils. You can give it climbing support, or let it use other plants for support or let it trail.
Plants can grow over 1m tall and tubers are hardy (not frost tender). Plants go dormant in autumn and re-emerge in the spring. Plants will develop seed pods in early autumn, so you can harvest and save your own seed too. For vegetative propagation divide the tubers when the plant is dormant in spring or autumn. Earthnut pea can also easily be grown in containers and this makes it easier to harvest. Beautiful pink flowers appear in summer, so it is also a very pretty ornamental.
Harvesting & cooking
**TUBERS ARE EDIBLE – LEAVES, FLOWERS AND SEEDS ARE NOT EDIBLE**
Earthnut pea tubers are harvested in autumn when plants are dormant. It is best to give them a couple of years to obtain a reasonable harvest. Yields are not massive, so this is more of an edible treat than a staple crop. You will need to dig deep to harvest the tubers and some are always left behind. Save best tubers for re-planting. Plants can throw out runners and pop up in a new place some distance from the parent plant. It is advisable to grow in a contained or separate area bordered by a path or grass if you don’t want the plants popping up in unexpected places. Tubers can be boiled or roasted and are delicious.
