The perfect way to grow your own food without a garden, house or even outdoor privileges. All you need is a windowsill to grow some microgreen pea sprouts.
That's right. Even if you're in a prison cell, as long as that cell has a window, you can grow pea shoots.
Pea shoots are the MOST delicious little tendrils you'll ever try. And the greatest thing about them is they taste exactly like raw peas. So if you're like me and have never actually eaten a cooked pea because they never make it to a pot, pea shoots are going to be your new favourite thing.
Pea shoots grow in a couple of weeks. All you need is a sunny windowsill.
(my windowsill is only kind of sunny and it still works great)
Don't worry about getting official pea seeds. Just buy a box of dried "marrow peas" in the grocery store. But don't buy the ones I just linked to. They're way too expensive. It's much cheaper to get them in the grocery store.
I bet you didn't even know you could find a box of dried pea seeds in your grocery store. You can. You'll find them in the canned vegetable aisle (even though they're in a box.)
It's way cheaper and easier to buy them this way rather than buying regular pea seeds.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Fill a pot with soil.
- Just push the seeds into the soil until they're about the same depth as the seed itself.
- Be generous with the amount you plant. You can fill the whole surface of the pot.
- Keep the seeds watered and within 2 weeks you'll have sprouts big enough to eat.
- To harvest, pinch the shoot off, do not pull it out. Another shoot will grow from the same seed.
- Continue to pinch and eat until the shoots stop producing or you get sick of pea shoots on your salad.
You can start pinching off the shoots once they get about this size.
** Don't pull them out, pinch them off, because they'll grow another shoot from the same root. **
The shoots can also grow longer so they have pretty little tendrils.
How to Use Pea Shoots
- In salads
- As a topping on stew
- In soups
- Stir fry (with the larger shoots)
All you need is a pot, soil, pea seeds and a windowsill. They'll keep you fed and entertained for 25 years to life.
DanniS
You mean you don't have pink princess goldfish in Canada??? Hopefully you bought some. I'm a huge goldfish fan myself as we'll as my youngest daughter and we eat them all the time and when I say we I mean mostly me. :)
Angela
Ditto! I buy the big boxes of Goldfish at Costco and take them to work. We (mostly me) snack on them all the time and never get tired of them!
Jan in Waterdown
Actually, we only just got Goldfish in Canuckistan a few years ago! Prior to that, we had to wait until we went on a road trip across the border to pick up an "aquarioum". That's what we called the really big box of yummy little fishies. Brilliant eh?!
Jan in Waterdown
I meant "aquarium" :-/
Mary
Loving your ood styling and photography. Kicking it up a notch for the new year?
Karen
Thanks Mary. :) I've just slowly been working on the photography aspect of my blog. Since going to 3 posts a week I've been able to take more time with learning about it and I've had more time to set up shots to make them look better. :) ~ karen!
Mary Werner
Karen, what spilled all over your linen cloth? Looks like an escaping sprout got caught in it. HOW WILL YOU CLEAN IT - if it is balsamic?
Karen
Ha! It's actually kraft paper. ;) And it's just some oil. No problem. I just crumpled it up and chucked it. ~ karen!
Mary Werner
I can't seem to grow green peas in Florida - too hot. But my favorite way to eat them is frozen. I pour some in a dixie cup, get a spoon, and eat them one by one still frozen. They are delicious and kids think this is fun. I call them pea balls and of course the name is half the fun. I can't wait to go to the store and get some old pea balls.
Cindy K.
I have a feeling that these are something my cat would try to nibble too.
kris wilson
Do you just keep the soil a little damp, or do they like to be fairly moist? I'd love to try this but can't even keep basil plants alive in my kitchen!
Karen
If you make it a plan to just water the pot a bit every morning when you wake up and make your coffee or tea, they'll be fine. Don't drench them. Just a bit of water so the soil doesn't dry out. These are really kind of fool proof. And I kill basil plants all the time! ~ karen
Maureen Locke
OMG.. I can't keep a basil plant alive either. I wonder what the trick is. Gonna go find me some marrow peas today.... hopefully. :)
mimiindublin
yum yum, raw peas are one of my favourite (of healthy) foods!
And just what we all need, though I confess I will eat the rest of my Christmas pudding while those tendrils are forming...should be enough time! with butterscotch sauce, so it's really rich and prepares my stomach for the peas thingy!
Karol
By the looks of your name, I think I was correct in reading this in my head with an Irish accent, which made your reply even more fun.
mimiindublin
Karol, you're right, I'm in Dublin, Ireland...eating Christmas pudding lol
tiffany
sounds yummy. I still have one pudding left and am at this very moment mowing down Christmas cake with double marzipan and royal icing
Jody
Who knew gross sounding "marrow" peas were in fact just dried up old peas. I think I might like that as a new nickname "hey, Marrow Pea, how ya doin'?" Rather than putting them in soil, will they sprout in an empty mason jar like other tiny seeds?
Karen
I tried it both ways Jody and they work better in soil. They will sprout using my alfalfa sprout method, but they don't turn into nice bright green, long pea shoots. They get brown and sort of icky after a while, while the ones in soil look and taste great for a long time. ~ karen!
danni
You can grow peas from plain old bagged dry peas from the stores here in the US, in fact, we can get a bag of mixed beans here, called 15 bean soup, and if you sow all of them an amazing number of the varieties will grow... (daughter's 2nd grade science project!)
I wonder how many different shoots would be tasty....?
Kelly
I didn't know that! I think I have a 15 bag of beans around somewhere. I'm going to look into that!
Tigersmom
"windmilling canapés into my mouth faster than you can say bad idea." Hahaha.
Unfortunately, this is a staggeringly accurate description of the way I go after appetizers (or party food, as I like to call it), too. My favorite thing is to have party food without the party. No witnesses.
Alice
Great idea! I have a strong desire to start growing something and perhaps this will hold me until the weather is a tad better.
Feral Turtle
This is awesome. Karen. I am definitely going to try this! Cheers.
Cherie
I started doing this a couple of years ago as a spring veg. it never occurred to me to do it in the middle of winter too. I shall have some on my windowsill faster than you blink today. I had several shoot pickings from my peas before I left them to develop into pea plants. Then I harvested the peas from them to eat as a snack. You can make soup with tthe empty pods too..... never tried that though.
Valerie
Karen,
Would it be useful to soak the marrow pea seeds overnight prior to planting them?
Thanks.
Karen
You could. That would soften them and might speed up the sprouting by a day or so, but I didn't bother with it. ~ karen!
Janelle
Windmilling! I nearly peed from the laughing.
Kathy Hartzell
As a college freshman, I had an assignment to grow peas which had been treated with varying amounts of a growth hormone....some had it, some didn't, and I had to chart the differences.
Semester over, winter break,and I looked at my plants on the windowsill in my co-op, and felt really badly that they would die over the break, they were my little pets....so I ate them. It felt odd, eating my little pets, and come to think of it, it was pretty stupid to eat those I had treated.....but it seemed Kinder than letting them wither.
Guess that is why I became a master gardener!
Louise
Yummm!
What else do you have in your salad? Enquiring minds want to know. Is that a poached egg I see in the back?
Roxane Dunmore
You may be able to find mushy peas in a specialty british food shop. I grew up with scottish/irish parents so I am more than familiar with mushy (aka yucky) peas. This is a much better use of the seeds!!!
gloria
I haven't even tried this yet, shoot, I just read it maybe 3 1/2 seconds ago, and already it's my new favourite thing. Though, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a hard time pinching them off and eating them. I know I want to. But they are so danged adorable, with their curly tendrils and all. So, once again, thanks for a great idea. And WHERE do you come up with this stuff?
Elizabeth
An additional advantage to Marrow Peas is that you know they are not treated with something like fungicide.
gloria
Are Marrow Peas a Canada thing? Not familiar with the name. Are they the same as dried peas in small bags in US grocery stores? They don't look quite like the ones in your photo either.
Karen
You know what? I have no idea, lol. Marrowfat peas are mature peas. They're what you'd make mushy peas out of. (Brit thing … you may not have heard of it) They aren't picked young, but instead are left in the pod, on the plant until they dry out naturally. (I just learned that on Wikipedia). You probably have them in the States but haven't looked for them. Otherwise give regular young dried peas a shot. They're probably viable. ~ karen! p.s. just got back from a quick trip over the border tonight and couldn't believe the bizarre assortment of snack flavours you have, lol. Pink Princess Goldfish crackers!!!
gloria
Nope, mushy peas not a big menu item in my experience. But hey, it's a big country, maybe some other regions knows about that. Though, I'm game, I'd give em a try.
And yes, our snack availabilities borders on the obscene. Every day in the United States there are more and more cases of Snack Aisle Paralysis being seen in our emergency rooms. Hapless shoppers, virtually paralyzed by the myriad choices that stun the senses and leave the victims unable to move, blink, or even communicate, are daily found by store clerks who are forced to use shopping carts to remove them to safety. Emergency technicians are now required to carry, at all times, copies of sample ballots for upcoming elections, which offer, as everyone knows, none to few choices at all, and will bring the paralytic around in approximately five minutes. The victim is then given orange juice, a cookie, and an I Voted sticker, then sent upon his way.
Ruth
I live close to the Buffalo border and recently made a trip over to a Trader Joe's in Buffalo. Yep, paralysis.! But, so much fun shopping those grocery isles as the choices are endless. Gloria, I enjoyed reading your response. We can't even get Fage yogurt in Canada.
gloria
Ruth, thanks, hey we're almost neighbors. I live not far from Buffalo, to the east. Karen, aren't you close to the border too?
Karen
LOL!! Good job on that answer. LOL. ~ karen!
gloria
Well you started it. You crack me up. I love your hilarious take on life.
Allison
Gloria, you win the internet today. Fantastic answer.
Signed,
A Texan who breaks into a cold sweat in the grocery store at the sheer abundance of choices.
gloria
Well, thanks. But the whole internet!? Gah! More choices! Now let me get a bit sexist here, if I may. I've found that many men, note I'm not saying all, that would be sexist with a capital S, seem to have no trouble at all with SAP, or any kind of shopping paralysis. They march in, grab what they've always grabbed, and march out (most of them paying before they go). They wouldn't think of switching brands, sampling a new product, Heaven forbid, trying something new. A certain male in my life, who shall remain nameless, has used Prell shampoo, for crying out loud, for the last forty years. When he enters the shampoo aisle, his eyes zero in on the luminous green bottle like a heat-seeking missile. The only time he breaks a sweat, Allison, is when the store no longer stocks Prell. Am I alone in this, or has anyone else noticed this curious immunity men have to shopping paralysis.
Pati Gulat
My Gosh, Gloria .... You could do stand up ! ROTFLMBO !!!! LOVE your banter !
Bonnie
Gloria, some years ago I had a graduate student from a communist nation. She was from a village where the most important person to know was the grocer because he could tell you when bread was coming in so you could get in line early. Imagine the first time she went to a U.S. store! She told me that she took hours in the aisles--the cereal aisle alone gave her "choice paralysis." So, she went into male mode and started just buying the same things she had always bought. A converse situation occurred when I lived and taught in Europe briefly. My kids would ask for various cereals, and could not believe that their choices were corn flakes, muesli, or some type of rice cereal. They were amazed that children could grow to adulthood with such deprivation.
tiffany
great comment
Bonnie
Hilarious!
JMC
Maybe it's because I live in LA but our chip choices suck compared to what I saw in Canada recently. People here have never heard of Ketchup or Everything chips or DILL christ it's even hard to find Salt and Vinegar. Plain, Sour Cream and Onion and BBQ that's pretty much it. And the most puzzling thing to me about this dearth of chip flavour options here is the fact that we are in a medical marijuana state. Are those chip marketers asleep or something? Also we do not have the flavour varieties of rice cakes that I saw in Canada. On the plus side it's January and I'll be going to the Farmers' Market on Saturday and Tutti Fruitti Farms said they should have "English" Peas in a week!