Peas are cool weather vegetables usually grown in early spring, though in some parts of California and other mild winter areas, they are easily grown from fall through spring. All fresh peas should taste sweet whether they English or garden peas, sugar peas or sugar snap peas, but you’ll have to recognize the various types at the market by other traits. Sweet peas are very colorful and fragrant spring flowers develop before pea pods even form.
English Peas
English peas or garden peas are the garden-variety peas you can sometimes buy fresh in full pods ready for shelling, frozen or canned. Because the sugars in garden peas change to starch so rapidly, fresh English peas can be disappointing unless they truly are fresh. Pods of fresh English peas should be filled out and appear round; the peas inside are sweet, tender and thin-skinned. Fresh garden peas can decline in taste and nutrient quality so quickly that, if not harvested with utmost care, they can be inedible as fresh peas within days of harvesting. If you don’t have a farmers market nearby that sells them, you may want to buy frozen peas instead.
Sugar or Snow Peas
Snow peas, also known as sugar peas, are very sweet edible pea pods harvested when the pods are full length but the peas inside are barely visible, so the pods remain tender. Unlike fresh garden peas, snow pea pods deteriorate only slightly when stored, which increases the odds that the snow peas you find in any market will be good quality. Pea pods will keep well stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Buy them fresh at a farmers market and they may last even longer. Popular in Asian dishes and wonderful steamed, snow peas will lose their crispness if overcooked. Because pods are high in sugar they will brown or burn quickly if cooked or stir-fried over intense heat.
Sugar Snap Peas
Much like green beans, the pods of sugar snap peas are ready to eat when they start to fill out. Both peas and pods should be tender, sweet and juicy. They snap when you break a pod in two. Sugar snap peas are delicious when lightly steamed. But as with English peas, quality declines rapidly once maturity is reached. For fresh sugar snap peas, look for these in spring at a nearby farmers market.
Sweet Peas
If you are lucky enough to have a quality farmers market nearby, you might see bouquets of brightly colored sweet pea – purple, lilac, red, pink, salmon and white -- as soon as you start seeing fresh peas. Otherwise, to enjoy them you will probably have to grow your own, which, fortunately, is not difficult, especially if you have a sunny fence for them to climb. Many heavily perfumed heritage varieties are available from specialty seed sources. Enrich the soil before planting with compost or well-rotted manure.
Member Comments