Mange tout

[Millymollymandy]

Help my mange tout which I've been waiting impatiently for have suddenly gone beserk in the last week and I need to eat them NOW!!!

I don't know what to do with them other than eat them raw in salads, in stir fries or just lightly boiled/steamed. Tried drizzling lightly boiled ones with balsamic vinegar which was very nice.

What do you do with them? I need to eat more tonight as well as my first courgette. No idea what else we are going to eat with them.

I also am kicking myself because my 2nd lot are twice as long a row as the first which is going to be way too many all at once , but at least I've learnt my lesson for next year!

Do they freeze? Or will they just be soggy and horrid?

[JillStephens7]

Sounds like you'd better get eating

I can't really offer any inspirational ways of using them ... the only thing I've done with them you don't do already is have them steamed for a minute (blanced in a sieve above the potaoes that I'm boiling) then sauteed with some garlic, rosemary & black pepper, on their own or with leek or peas or cabbage. Yum yum.

Good luck!

[Odsox]

You don't say how long your rows are, but I grow a "row" about 2 feet long and that is a job to keep up with for the two of us, especially when it coincides with all the other summer veg.
We found that they sort of freeze OK, but only for a few months, after that they do get soggy and horrible.

I grow Oregon Sugar Pod which is still perfectly OK when it has sizeable peas in the pods (just means you have to string them) plus if you leave them too long you can shell them like ordinary peas .. or even leave them till the peas are dry and have them in ham & pea soups or mushy peas in the winter.

Failing that ...... don't grow so many.

[Green Aura]

You could pickle some, MMM. Add them to cabbage and stuff and make kimchi or sauerkraut. mmmm

[frozenthunderbolt]

I'm yet to grow more than i can eat raw from the garden - handfuls at a time :-)

[Shirley]

I can't think of mange tout without remember my daughter's mispronunciation of it.... man get out.

[Silver Ether]

take a child with you to pick ... they eat them as quick as picking ...

[Millymollymandy]

You don't say how long your rows are, but I grow a "row" about 2 feet long and that is a job to keep up with for the two of us, especially when it coincides with all the other summer veg.
We found that they sort of freeze OK, but only for a few months, after that they do get soggy and horrible.

I grow Oregon Sugar Pod which is still perfectly OK when it has sizeable peas in the pods (just means you have to string them) plus if you leave them too long you can shell them like ordinary peas .. or even leave them till the peas are dry and have them in ham & pea soups or mushy peas in the winter.

Failing that ...... don't grow so many.

Ha ha well you never told me beforehand how many to grow at a time just like you never told us how to germinate sweetcorn!

The ones last night were a bit stringy as I was trying to pick the older ones, they had little peas inside. They are growing at a rate of knots just in one week.

My first row is about 2 metres and the 2nd row about 3 metres. Seeds planted every 2-3cm as said on packet. Oops! Well how am I to know, yet another veg I haven't grown before.

As for mushy peas - wash your mouth out young man!

I did think they'd carry on flowering as I picked like sweet peas but they don't seem to do this. But that's probably a good thing!

[Millymollymandy]

Thanks for the other tips but Jill we don't have leeks at the same time of year as mange tout! But sauteed with herbs and garlic sounds good - might do them in wih the courgette that way.

[Odsox]

My first row is about 2 metres

Wow, what's that .. just over 6 feet, 3 times as long as the one I have that's in danger of getting away from me.
That's with OH eating half a dozen raw every day in her packed salad lunch, as well as cooked veg.

Ha ha well you never told me beforehand how many to grow at a time just like you never told us how to germinate sweetcorn!

Well you joined this forum 2 years before I did and I assumed you knew everything (just like me and my dog)
I'm the newbie here after all.

[Millymollymandy]

Ah but you've got about 35 more years of veg growing experience than me and I'm a total newbie this year to peas, mange tout, salsify and celery which I can't believe is EVER going to get big enough in one growing season to eat! It's still about 3mm tall.

Anyway..... as I said before, you learn by your mistakes and I'll know better about successional sowing of mange tout next year.

[red]

freeze excess - not quite as nice as fresh but ok.

[Millymollymandy]

I might try that red but thankfully I checked and the 2nd sowing is only the same size row as the first - 2 metres!

It's OK at the moment as all we have to eat is a ton of lettuce and one courgette but by the time the 2nd row are ready there will be too much other stuff ready to eat at the same time.

Now I need to compost last year's frozen runner beans to make space.