Final Analysis: Snap Peas

Given that I'm very familiar with eating everything in the garden but not so much with growing it, I'll produce a summary of each crop we produce once its harvesting is over. It's a chance to evaluate how things went with the plants, how everything tasted, and whether or not the crop was worth the effort. Call it ... Final Analysis.

Remember this?

The first thing into the ground this spring were the snap peas, which we sowed all the way back in late February. Once the weather gets hot they really start to struggle and the pea pods become tough and unappetizing, so Christine actually ripped them out last week and planted fennel seeds in their place. I was sad to see them go because they were the first thing we had to give us produce consistently. I was thinking we might squeeze one last harvest out of them before their extirpation, but it was so hot here this week that would have been for naught anyway.

We had two rows and probably about 24-30 plants total. I cooked them three different times as features parts of meals. Add walk-by snacking to that total. I'm guessing we got 6 cups of peas out of this crop.  Considering the limitations of snap peas as an ingredient, that's plenty -- but given that these plants were with us since March, it's not particularly inspiring.

The pods themselves were good in stir-fried Asian dishes (I do not make "stir-fries") but I have to say they were best simply raw. They were tasty and refreshing, but not remarkably better than store-bought alternatives. I mean they were, but not anywhere near as comparably more delicious as fresh English peas are from their grocery store counterparts (or, gag me, frozen peas). If you see fresh peas at the farmer's market, pounce -- even if you're iffy on peas in general like me.

So were the snap peas worth it? Yes, in that nothing else would have been ready when they were. I may bang the drum for larger shelled peas next year, though, simply for their greater utility in cooking.