Sugar Snap Peas!
The sugar snap pea aka snap peas are a relatively new food and gardening delight as they were developed in 1979 by Dr. Calvin Lamborn and Dr. M.C. Parker who set out to create a bigger sweeter pea that was housed in an edible pod that was tender when eaten whole. They cross bred green peas and Chinese snow peas, giving us the hybrid sugar pea known as “Sugar Snap”. Sugar snap peas were bred in such a manner that saw the fibres of the pod develop in one direction, making their pods easier to chew.
Peas on Earth
Once they perfected the “Sugar Snap” they went on to solve another Pea Problem; those oh so annoying strings that have to be removed from them before eating so they went back to the lab and developed the highly praised “Sugar Daddy” a string-less pea to meet consumers’ demand for edible-pod peas that are sweeter and larger than snow peas. Gardeners were also happy to see this development because Sugar Daddy’s only grow up to a meter in height and do not require trellising with their shorter vines.
My wife and daughters have once again created a bountiful garden in our yard which with the abundance of rain this year and fertilizer produced by our chickens is gushing and providing us with many meals. Not every father would be proud to see his girls running into the kitchen with a Sugar Daddy but with this variety I’m happy to see them come with no strings attached!
We enjoy eating Sugar Snap’s and Sugar Daddy’s raw, as we take the time to shell them and eat the peas a few at a time, this process takes longer, allowing us to talk about our days and enjoy sometime together. We still choose not to eat the edible pods but we do set them aside to give to the chickens as a treat.
Sugar Snap Peas
If you insist on playing with your food you may choose to shell the pods and puree the peas with some cream cheese to stuff back inside the pods. Juicing fresh peas makes an intensely flavoured juice or soup or try some Ontario grown Sugar Snaps or Sugar Daddys’s in the following recipe that will keep your kitchen cool and get your barbecue fired up
Grilled Sugar Peas
Ingredients:
1-pound Sugar Daddy Peas or sugar snap peas, de-stringed
3 tbsp. cooking oil
Toasted Sesame Oil
Toasted Sesame Seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Preheat the grill on medium – high setting
Place the sugar snap peas and olive oil into a food storage bag.
Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible.
Gently massage the sugar snap peas until they evenly coated with the oil.
Lightly oil a vegetable grill basket and place it on the grill. Pour the snap peas from the zipper bag into the basket.
Grill the sugar snap peas for 3-5 minutes, or until they develop a nice brown colour on the grill side.
Turn/stir the vegetables over to grill on the other side. Cooking time varies with the freshness of the peas, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the grill when they are browed slightly but not charred. When the sugar snap peas are finished grilling, place them on a serving platter and lightly drizzle some toasted sesame seed oil over the peas and a sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
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