I started making a springtime pesto with pea shoots in my first years of growing peas, when I heavily overplanted the beds and needed to thin them. It turned out to be so delicious that, as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, I now intentionally plant peas too thickly and pinch off extras; I also snip upper shoots as the plants grow. This not only lets me make fresh pesto long before I can harvest basil but also helps the plants grow bushier and produce more peapods.

I think tender pea shoots are the sweetest and harvest them from both edible pod and shelling peas. Some people consider sugar snap shoots to be the sweetest. Whichever you’re growing, give them a taste while they’re young and delicate.

If you’re not growing peas, look for edible shoots at a farmers’ market. I found the ones in the photo that accompanies this week’s column while visiting the Bellingham Farmers Market. The large bundle of shoots and flowers were more developed than I usually harvest them, so I blended just the leaves and top tendrils from the thickest stalks into pesto.
Learn to make Pea Shoot Pesto