Picking Peas

Forum Archives

 

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arcatamarcia

Location: Oregon, Southern Coast

Posted: Jun-12-2009 at 10:20am

My sugar snap peas are going like gangbusters but I have a question about when to harvest them. I have a few pods where the peas are so big I can see them bulging through the pod, but when I give them a tug they hold fast to the vine. So, are peas like apples, where when they're ready they'll release easily, or should I get tougher with them and assume if they look ready they are, even if I have to cut them off? I have forced a few off the vine and the peas in those have been a good size and mighty tasty. My family is getting impatient!

 

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gary

Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor

Posted: Jun-12-2009 at 6:09pm

Marcia,

Sugar Snap peas can be eaten as "in shell peas" or shelled. With the original Sugar Snap in 1981(?), my kids loved to "pull them off the vine" and eat them in the garden.

The ones they missed I shelled. Take your choice.

Gary

 

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silver_ creek

Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills

Posted: Jun-12-2009 at 7:19pm

IMHO the best sugar snap peas are at the stage where the peas in the pod are just beginning to swell. If it tastes sweet just off the vine, raw, then it's ready. Too soon, and they aren't at the peak of sweetness. Too late, the pods are tough and there is a definite 'string'.

Terry M.

 

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HarleyLady

Location: Willamette Valley

Posted: Jun-12-2009 at 10:56pm

Every one has pretty much clarified "when" they are done...but as for picking, grasp the vine with one hand and pick with the other so you don't damage your vines...just tugging is a bit rough on them...