Peas

[Miramon]

<grumpy>
And another thing. What's the deal with peas at my local supermarket? And at every other supermarket I've ever been to? You just can't get raw peas. I don't mean those stupid sugar snap pea things. I mean normal everyday peas. Inna pod. I happen to like raw peas, but I see no way to get them at all in my area.

Peas are one of the easiest damn things in the world to grow, you drop one on a windowsill, it will probably sprout and grow half a plant without even any soil. So it can't be very difficult for local farmers, can it? But the only peas I can buy are in a can. Bah.
</grumpy>

[Midnight Son]

We're here if you want to vent.

[CastOutDevil]

I think you've solved your own dilemma. If they are so easy to grow, plant some and enjoy your own bountiful harvest!!

[Phil_Stein]

We've grown peas in our garden the last couple years. You're right - they are pretty easy to grow, and kind fun to harvest.

Find some soil and plant some.

[Njal]

and kind fun to harvest.

Says someone who never picked them for a living.

[Mr_PeaCH]

Says someone who never picked them for a living.

The pickin'... yeah, not so much. But the shellin'... good times. Good times.

[Phil_Stein]

There are lots of activities that are fun in small doses, but that I probably wouldn't enjoy if that was what I did for a living.

I like puttering around in my garden, but I don't think I'd enjoy being a farmer (or a farm worker).

I like working out in the heat for a day or two on a Habitat project, but I doubt I would enjoy it so much if that was my primary occupation.

[Ben Sones]

You just need a better grocery store. My local store (Wegman's) carries a bunch of different varieties of fresh peas, including regular peas inna pod. Of course, Wegman's carries pretty darn near everything, so maybe I have unrealistic expectations.

[Sidd_Budd]

Frozen (raw) peas hold up very well, and are available in all major grocery stores. I suspect you could just run them under water in a colander and defrost them fairly quickly if you want to snack on them.

Canned peas are awful, or at least they were five or six years ago, which is the last time I can remember eating them.

[Enidigm]

1) Check your local area for a Farmer's Market, where unshelled produce can be bought out of stalls and backs of trucks once or twice a week; but be warned, though, as the old Grandmothers who remember and prefer fresh farm produce will be there 8am sharp and swipe it all up.

2) Check the newspaper to see if there are any farmers nearby that advertise "picking your own" prices per bushel of produce. Oftentimes older farmers would rather just let people on the land and break their backs instead of hassling with getting up out of their easy chair and doing it themselves. Be warned these can be scams if you don't know prices (like 30-40$ a bushel, which is way over market value for almost any produce, plus the cost and time you spend picking it).

[Miramon]

I wasn't actually expecting anyone to reply. This thread is actually more conclusive about workplace boredom than the actual boredom thread....

Simply defrosting frozen peas didn't occur to me at all.

Anyhow, yeah, I suppose there must be a farmer's market around someplace. I just don't know of any offhand. Are peas harvested all summer? No idea. But (pause for google) who knew: http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/t-membermarkets.aspx -- there's one in my town, I'll go check it out on Saturday.

[wisefool]

Wegman's and Annie Difranco are the only decent things to come from the Rochester/Buffalo area. Here's a supermarket that gives you free decent coffee on a Sunday morning so you can spend extra time browsing and buying stuffs.

[Timemaster Tim]

Until just last week, I have never eaten fresh peas. At least not knowingly. I'm used to having the frozen stuff. I've had canned only once ant it was disgusting. The texture is mushy and the flavour is gone.

Got some fresh peas in their pod at the farmers market. There isn't a grocery store in the area that carries them.

[SlyFrog]

The pickin'... yeah, not so much. But the shellin'... good times. Good times.

So the pickin' is not followed by the grinnin'?

[balut]

Damn pea virals.

[Wholly Schmidt]

Damn pea virals.
Come on man, give peas a chance.

[Raife]

Come on man, give peas a chance.

That was horrible.

[Bill Dungsroman]

That was horrible.
Within this thread, it's comedy gold.

[azzl]

Vegetables are generally blanched before they're frozen, so thawed frozen peas are unlikely to taste like raw peas (not that I've ever tried-- sounds unappealing). Maybe rehydrated dried peas?

[stusser]

Peas are not blanched. They're harvested at the peak of freshness and immediately flash-frozen to very low temperatures so they don't stick together. Your bog-standard peas are one of the few vegetables that tend to be better frozen. Delicious frozen peaness!

Frozen sweetcorn is also quite palatable, but not as good as fresh when it's incredibly cheap. Frozen berries are delicious, but the texture suffers as they're frozen too slowly to maintain it, so they're only good for sauces and smoothies.

[MatthewF]

Delicious frozen peaness doesn't sound very appetizing when said out loud.

[Andrew Mayer]

Delicious frozen peaness doesn't sound very appetizing when said out loud.

HO HO HO

http://graysmatter.codivation.com/content/binary/greengiant.jpg

[azzl]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH1PJTY9AVA

[Enduro_Man]

HO HO HO

http://graysmatter.codivation.com/content/binary/greengiant.jpg

"I come in peas."

[Sidd_Budd]

Stusser's post regarding fruits & vegetables that retain flavor when frozen is excellent. I would also include frozen spinach, for recipes where you will be wilting it anyway (frozen spinach salad won't work), and frozen bananas are great for smoothies as well, although the outside skin blackens.

It is left as an exercise for the reader to combine frozen blackened bananas with other delicious phrases mentioned earlier in the thread.

[Patrick]

Peas are not blanched. They're harvested at the peak of freshness and immediately flash-frozen to very low temperatures so they don't stick together. Your bog-standard peas are one of the few vegetables that tend to be better frozen. Delicious frozen peaness!

Frozen sweetcorn is also quite palatable, but not as good as fresh when it's incredibly cheap. Frozen berries are delicious, but the texture suffers as they're frozen too slowly to maintain it, so they're only good for sauces and smoothies.

Living here in Santa Maria, Where Strawberrys are a major crop. The best Quality Berrys are sold fresh and the lower quality ones are the ones that are frozen.

[Midnight Son]

Don't eat the yellow peas.

[SlyFrog]

I wish we all had whirled peas.

[stusser]

Of course. But quality in this case is measured in cosmetics, the "perfect" strawberries are packaged in little cartons and sold for $4 a pint, while the ugly or misshapen ones are frozen and sold in bags at $2 per pound. They both taste fine. Frozen berries are fantastic, but the texture sucks.

Frozen spinach is quite good for fillings for spanikopita and ravioli, making creamed spinach, etc. You'd need a pile of fresh spinach the size of a small child to make up one of those bags. But I would never eat it straight; it has an astringency that I find unpleasant.

[Machfive]

There was a fantastic strip of Pearls Before Swine that dealt with Peas. I wish I could find it online. It might be in my pile of funny clippings, but I don't see myself digging through that mess anytime soon.

[Athryn]

Frozen berries, and other fruit (like nectarines) are quite yummy if eaten while still frozen. Even melon! I used to get these bags of flash frozen fruit at Costco and snack on them.

[Dean]

I wasn't actually expecting anyone to reply. This thread is actually more conclusive about workplace boredom than the actual boredom thread....

Simply defrosting frozen peas didn't occur to me at all.

Anyhow, yeah, I suppose there must be a farmer's market around someplace. I just don't know of any offhand. Are peas harvested all summer? No idea. But (pause for google) who knew: http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/t-membermarkets.aspx -- there's one in my town, I'll go check it out on Saturday.

Haymarket. Go to Haymarket very early on a Saturday morning. (Though you may be in western MA, if so, carry on, nothing to see here.)