Peas are one of the greatest treats of spring garden. While all vegetables taste better when picked fresh, this is specially true for peas. The taste of a freshly picked pea cannot be compared to anything you might get at the store.
Sugar snap peas are a hybrid of English peas and snow peas. They combine the best of both worlds. They are crunchy, juicy with plump sweet peas inside
Peas are very easy to grow and are ideal for smaller plots because they grow upwards (climb), taking very little space on the bed.
Peas thrive in cool temperatures. The plant can survive frost but grow poorly in high temperatures. Plant peas in early spring when soil is around 40F degrees.
Harvest peas while fresh and green, before they start to turn yellow. Pick the pods that are full size. Cut the pods from the plant instead of pulling off to avoid damaging the plant.
Snap peas, like all other peas, are pod fruits. An edible-podded pea is similar to a garden or English pea but the pod is less fibrous, and is edible when young. Snap peas don’t open when ripe and each pod contain about 3 to 8 peas.
Peas are climbing plants, so it’s important to provide the plant with a support system early on. In my garden I used both a wire trellis and tomato cages, and they worked really well in providing with enough support for the plant to climb.
Trellis can be purchased at a garden center or you can use garden scraps like wood sticks, chicken wire and other material to crate your own.
When the plant is still very young, you can train them to climb by loosely tie the plant to the trellis using a piece of string or garden twist ties
While snap peas are perfect to eat raw as a snap with hummus, they are delicious sautéed with minimal ingredients.
This recipe below is a delicious way to serve snap peas as a vegetable side dish. The peas do not need to cook for long, and are perfect with toasted pine nuts and a bit of lemon zest.
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Sautéed Sugar Snap Peas
Ingredients
- 8 oz sugar snap peas, strings removed
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- in a small frying pan or skillet, toast pine nuts and fennel seeds for about 3 minutes or until pine nuts starts to brown. Transfer to a plate
- In the same skillet add oil and snap peas, sauté for about 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and lemon zest.
- Transfer to a serving dish, top with pine nuts and fennel seeds. Serve
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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