How To Properly Store Peas
Harvest, Shell, Blanch and Freeze This Garden Vegetable
Garden peas are delicious to eat fresh from the stalk, but saving some for later use is a good idea, especially if your pea plants are producing at an excessive rate. What is the best way to maintain their yummy taste and nutritional content?
Harvest
Pick peas when the pods are plump and almost full. If you wait until the peas are too large, they will become bitter. Some people like to use thin pods for stir-frys and other recipes, but for the purposes of storing, the peas should be a medium size. Pull the pods off the stalks without breaking the vine.
To shell the peas, press your thumb against the fullest part of the outside seam at the bottom of the pod, then split open the pod. Slide the peas out of the pod.
Blanch
The storage process should begin as soon as possible after picking the peas, because their flavour and sweetness disintegrates quickly.
Once you have the peas shelled, it’s time to blanch them. Blanching maintains the colour, texture, taste and freshness of the peas by destroying enzymes and bacteria that are present in all vegetables. Blanching basically means exposing the vegetables to a brief period of heat through steam or boiling.
You can blanch peas using steam or even in the microwave, but the most reliable method is the following. Prepare a large pot of boiling water and a large container of ice cold water. Every vegetable has a different blanching time; for peas it is 90 seconds. Start counting the time as soon as the peas enter the boiling water. After 90 seconds remove the peas from the boiling water and cool them thoroughly in the ice water for another 90 seconds. You can use the same water for both the hot and cold baths, just make sure to add more hot water or ice as required. Drain the peas once they are cooled.
Bag
Place the blanched peas in sealable plastic bags. There are some available that have vacuum sealing capabilities. It is important to remove as much air as possible from the bags to prevent freezer burn. If you don’t have a vacuum sealing option, insert a straw into the bag and seal the bag around it. Suck the air out and then seal the bag completely.
Throw the bags in the freezer and you’re done! When the winter snow starts flying, you can pull out a bag and enjoy a taste of summer by boiling up a bag of garden peas.
Peas
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