Pea Harvest

Its time for the pea harvest!

What you see here are snap peas. I'm a particular fan of them as the idea of eating a pea whole- pod and all- is wonderful. Snow peas are another popular edible pod type of pea, but usually that's all your eating- pod not pea. Snap peas seem to encompass a happy balance between edible pod and a delicious pea.

Last year I grew snap peas in only one garden bed... I don't believe a single one ever made it out of the garden as all were eaten by us foraging humans. Lesson learned. THIS year I planted two large seed packets of peas, though I didn't record the packet weights in my seed list as they were purchased late last summer when I had a gazillion other bits of garden data to be concerned about. I remember the pea planting day this spring well: It was 4/14/11... I was pretty sure that it wasn't too early to sow the peas. I soaked both packets overnight and began planting them the next morning. It didn't take long to realize that I had a lot more extra peas to plant than I had anticipated. So despite my garden crop rotation plan, I began to plant peas here and there throughout the garden until I ran out. Now I have just what I wished for- LOTS OF PEAS!

 



Peas trellised in the same bed as the some tomatoes.



There has been a bit of debate in the house whether the pea taste and harvest time. Is the pea better picked with less or more full pods. In the picture below, my boyfriend would say that the pea on the right is perfect and that the pea on the left is 'too old', mostly complaining about the string in the pea pod. But I feel quite the opposite as it seems to me that the peas that are more plump with peas inside taste sweeter. It makes sense to me that there is correlation of sweetness with the more developed pea. Right? Of course if you let the pea mature too long on the vine then all is lost in regards to flavor and texture.

Which is better? It may just be a literal matter of taste. 

Peas are NOT an economical vegetable to grow in a garden if your in it for the pure frugality of it. BUT anyone who has ever tasted a freshly picked garden pea will tell you- they are worth it! They are so sweet tasting straight off the plant! Everyday for the past week or two I'll visit the pea rows snacking off the vines eating handfuls. Its like eating candy, but... wait... its good for you too? 

Then I read that within minutes of being removed from the plant, the pea begins to convert its sugars to starches (I know this happens with corn also). So this is why freshly picked peas taste so awesome? You'll never be able to get the same flavor from a grocery store... even if the peas were picked that same day!

What did I do with my excess snap peas?



1. Harvest

2. Rinse.



3. Blanch 2-3 minutes.





4. Dunk to cool off.



 

5. Freeze.

The blanching is apparently pretty essential to storing frozen peas (and other veggies too). Its all about enzymes. Enzymes help the plant to grow and mature... well this process doesn't stop even if the produce is frozen (though at a slower rate I would imagine), which can result in discolorations and off flavors when stored over time. I may still try freezing some without blanching them first just to see what happens. The blanching process made the flavor of the pea change in an unfavorable way- at least when compared to its raw form. We'll likely use a lot of these frozen peas in stir fry dishes.