Herbie's Purple Podded Bean Pea

Our donor's father acquired these peas from Mr Herbie Nicholson. Herbie had grown the variety since the late 1990s in Northumberland after being given them by an elderly lady whose garden he tended. She told him that they had been passed from generation to generation for many years in the Bedlington/Choppington area. The tall vines (1.8m) grow rapidly after germination, producing bicolour pink flowers followed by purple pods and pale green peas with a flavour very similar to a processed pea. They also freeze well.