Raatviksaart soup Pea

Mentioned by Linnaeus in 1741, this traditional soup pea is multipurpose – not just dried for soups, but sweet enough to eat fresh when very young, & also ground to make flour for bread and porridge. It’s a medium-tall variety growing to around 5 foot in a typical year. 

Sent to us by Jake Whitson in Sweden, who said:

“from the county to the north of us (Dalarna) where they have very hard winters, and the plants which we planted a little late survived into the winter through temperatures of -8C”

Grown in Rättvik until 1900, then thought lost until regenerated from a small sample in a seedbank.