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How do you prep snow peas?

14 years ago

I love them, but it seems no matter what I do I end up with a certain amount of tough string in my meal. To overcome this I started by pinching the tip off with my fingers rather than with trimming with a knife, and then pull whatever string comes along with it down the straighter edge. Not enough. I've tried doing the same procedure from both ends. Not enough. Last night I took it to the extreme and pinched both ends of the peas, along both the flat edge and the rounded edge, but despite handling EACH PEA FOUR TIMES this way I still ended up with some stringiness. Surely there's a better way?

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Comments (5)

lindac
14 years ago
I start from the stem end and with a knife I cut to the "string" and pull it down the length of the pod.
Perhaps your peas are too long on the vine?
jadeite
14 years ago
I snap off the stem end and pull down whatever string there is. Sometimes it's only on one side, sometimes there are two. I never get stringy snow peas this way, unless they are old and fibrous. You can usually tell by how crisp they are when you snap the end. If they bend easily, they are older than they should be.

Cheryl
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Your dwarf gray sugar snow peas will have purple blossoms...that's the easy one for me to tell early on. The others you list should all be white flowered. The pods on the Sugar Pod 2 Snow Peas will be flat for quite awhile and the seeds will show though as small bumps. Pick them before the seeds grow large and the pods become rounder since the pods will be tough by then. The Burpeeana Early Peas will have pods that do not stay flat for long and do not show small seeds through the pod. Of course you want to leave this growing until the pods fill with good sized peas. I'd have trouble telling the Sugar Daddy Snaps from the Burpeeana's but since both are picked with rounded pods you can try them and see which has the fibrous pod.....BINGO...that's the Burpeeana and the other should be the tender snap pea, Sugar Daddy. In my garden, heights have not always agreed with the reported info. And some keep growing aller for a longer time and the height when flowering begins changes alot.
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They don't mind a bit of shade during the hottest part of day. I grew sugar snap peas in the spring and they had very few pests and needed very little care. Of course, it may be entirely different when I try growing them this fall!
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I have found that they produce little when you do this. Better off replanting. You could also develop disease on the stressed plants
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I am starting to worry about the garlic I planted. Two large beds 30x20feet with garlic every 6 inches! More worried about the potential of rotting in the ground. Veilchen, good call on trying to get the snow off your beds. I like your spunk and determination. Although, I dont own a snow blower, nor am I back in Maine to have access to getting the snow off my garlic beds- I wont be back till April. Iam gonna try and be more optimistic though.
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triciae
14 years ago
Less than fresh would be my first guess. Snow peas are one of those veggies that don't keep well more than a few hours so by the time you get them in the store - they're old. Farmer's markets are a very good source for fresh snow peas. Also, there are "stringless" varieties available now.

/tricia
donna_loomis
14 years ago
Exactly what LindaC said. If you are growing them yourself, pick them sooner. Not much you can do if they are purchased.

When you cut at the stem end, be careful to just nick from the bottom (away from the edge where the strings are, and pull the rest of the tip off. You should get at least most of the strings that way.
foodonastump
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks - sounds like the issue is the quality/age of the peas. Not overly surprising.

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