Over the past few months we have been watching the Common Vetch slowly produce its pods along the lanes and hedges that we walk each day, watching for the day that we can try the peas inside the pods. I now see why R has been such an avid viewer of them, as tonight we actually picked them and ate them, raw, right from the plant. It had an amazing taste, I was expecting a normal pea taste but no we both thought they tasted of almonds, which was a real surprise. The peas in the pods where so tiny, and some we could see were starting to go to seed, but it was lovely to be eating a wild food with all the natural energy that they tend to have. Tomorrow we will be going out to collect them to have with our dinner in the evening, not sure though what will go with almond tasting peas!
Common Vetch is quite an easily identifiable plant in the UK landscape, not one you would mix up with anything else. Amazing what you find when you start looking really, there is so much wild food available, and we have only just started looking into it. We tend to now take out small reference books to enable us to quickly identify the plants that we find, every week, even though we are walking the same woods, we find new plants. Our walks with the dog have become a real learning experience, and as tonight a taste experience. D
Tags: Wild food
