Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Freezing Peaz

The best souvenir I brought back from my trip to Texas is 40 lbs. of fresh peas. Well, okay.  Maybe the best souvenir was my mom's Fiesta ware pitcher in the discontinued pale yellow color.  But the peas are right up there.



We had to keep them packed on ice during the road trip, then get them blanched and frozen as soon as possible.  Blanching is an amazing thing.  It preserves color, flavor and texture in frozen foods- don't skip this step for veggies!  


Dump a couple pounds of fresh peas (these are purple hull peas) into a strainer and submerge them in boiling water for 2 minutes.  


Then, take the strainer out of the boiling water and submerge it in icy cold water (I use a combo of actual ice, water and freezer packs intended for coolers) for at least 2 minutes.  Then drain the peas.







Here's close-ups on all the varieties I froze:


Just like the black eyed peas you cook from dry beans, except not dried and 5,000 times better.

Similar to black eyed peas, except 10,000 times better.


 Speckled butter beans.  I could eat these for breakfast.

Not pictured: cream peas

8 comments:

Catherine Weber said...

lucky girl! Other than edamame, (and I don't know that that really counts,) I don't think I've ever had fresh peas/beans before!

Katy said...

Yum! I want to try these! Plus, soaking takes so much longer than defrosting. I have never had fresh black-eyed peas, are they sweet?

gucci outlet online said...

looks very nice,thank you for your sharing

Prada handbags sale said...

thank you for your sharing.............................................post, i am glad to lear more useful informations from here, good luck everyday!

Eileen said...

AWESOME. I am totally planning on doing this with as much fresh corn as I can grab at the farmer's market this weekend.

Pearl said...

wow, 40 lbs, that's not just a score, that's a commitment.

Ruestar said...

Lizzie those look SO DELICIOUS!!!!
You can have me over for pea dinner or breakfast any time!

Celeste said...

They look scrumptious! Mmmm, butter beans!