Kitchen Garden Forum

When do you harvest peas, the ones you eat without the pods?

They are starting to get thicker...



And there's a lot of them coming!

When they are fully formed but still soft and sweet. Obviously, the longer you let them grow, the bigger they will get, but they will lose their sweet pea taste and become harder and tougher. The choice is yours!

Rather have some sweet ones, ofcourse! So I believe the ones on the first picture may very soon be ready?

Good idea to have the odd trial taste test. Mangetout of course are eaten with the pod so you don't have to wait for the peas inside to swell but the varieties you eat by removing the pod should be left long enough to swell but still taste sweet and moist rather than dry. If you pick them at this stage and like cooking you can save the pods, sauté them lightly turn into a light summer soup if you have a stick blender to whizz everything up.

When I,ve grown peas I!m afraid most of them have been eaten before they've even made it into the kitchen or have enough been served raw in salads!

Test before you pick a lot. Peas are strange, the pods swell first then the peas swell to fill them so they can fool you into picking them too soon if you aren't careful. I see you have been squeezing them, that's a reliable test as is looking at them with the sun shining through.

You can generally feel the peas inside & I can see from the lack of bloom on Pic 1 you are trying that! Ones toward the bottom are ready first generally as well & are quite often missed in the tangle!

Thanks a lot guys! Just had the first harvest and about to eat snow peas for dinner as well