The sugar snap pea is a sweet, tender sugar pea that has an edible pod. Sugar snaps are most flavorful cooked briefly, but they also can be eaten raw. A cool weather vegetable, the sugar snap can be planted and harvested either in the spring or the fall. Unlike the snow pea, the sugar snap…
Legumes
Snow Peas: Kitchen Basics
You can use snow peas in the same way as fresh peas or green beans. In fact, snow peas and green beans are interchangeable in most recipes. Snow peas are edible-podded peas: you eat the seed and pod whole. The peak season for snow peas is spring and then again in fall. Snow peas can…
English Peas: Kitchen Basics
“Come tonight, the peas are ready!” So started the invitation sent each spring in the first fresh peas of the year competition held by Thomas Jefferson and his neighbors. Most gardeners say that it is impossible to buy peas that taste like those that come straight from the garden. Garden peas—also commonly called English peas…
Peas: Kitchen Basics
There are three kinds of peas. Peas that are shelled and the seeds are eaten either fresh or dried. Peas that have edible pods—the seeds and pod are eaten together whole. And peas that can either be shelled or eaten whole. Shelling peas are valued for their seeds. Shelling peas are also called garden pea,…
Fava Beans: Kitchen Basics
The fava bean—which is also known as the broad bean, English bean, Windsor bean, and horse bean–can be eaten fresh or dried. Fava beans harvested small–2-3 inches/ 5-7 cm–and tender have a sweet flavor. You can eat them raw or cooked shelled or pod and all. Medium-sized favas can be shelled and used fresh like…
Yard-long Beans: Kitchen Basics
If you wait for the yard-long bean to become a yard long, you will probably have waited too long. The best tasting yard-long beans are usually about 18-inches (45 cm) long, which means the best tasting yard-long beans are young. Even so “tender” and “sweet” are not adjectives that are commonly used to describe even…