Wild Pea of Umbria Harvest- What Makes This Pea So Special
Earlier this month I harvested our latest crop of Roveja or Wild Pea of Umbria. I love how colorful these small peas are, ranging from light purple to green to orange, they look like tiny speckled robin’s eggs. When I hold it in my hands, I know I’m holding a living, perpetuating fossil and a piece of history. This dry pea has been grown and wild-harvested since the Neolithic age by farmers and shepherds along Italy’s Sibillini Mountains, specifically on the Umbria-Marche ridge. There the pea was grown at high altitudes where it withstood the cold and harsh conditions. The peas were semi-uncultivated, allowed to grow wild and left to reseed themselves. The pods were harvested by hand as they grew in polyculture among other wild plants. This labor intensive process probably led to their decline in cultivation as they were replaced by lentils and other legumes. The near disappearance of this former staple in recent decades was thankfully slowed by its being sponsored by Slow Food’s Ark of Taste. Slow Food has assigned a group of experts dedicated to helping promote the growing and preserving of this historic variety in its home region.
We focus on low impact crops that provide nutrition while also being easier on the planet. We choose to grow Roveja because of its ability to withstand harsh conditions and produce protein with less inputs than other legumes. And we also think it is just so cute! When you grow Roveja, save the seeds, and share this cool variety with others, you are also helping save what has become a threatened variety.
Roveja is a pole pea and true to its wild nature, it gets by on less fertility that other dry peas. It grows around 5 feet tall, and planting in April will mean a harvest of the dry peas in August. We don’t grow it in polyculture, but because of its original growing conditions being such, it might be a great fit for interplanting with other species in your garden. Vine-drying the peas in the field as we do here at Giving Ground Seeds will yield the highest quality seeds.
Roveja is typically used in soups, cooked as you might a dry bean, after soaking for 24 hours and with plenty of water added for re-hydrating. In Umbria, it is also ground for flour to use in farecchiata, which is a polenta-like dish, or as contorno (a side dish) made with anchovies and chopped parsley.
