Pea Picking Time!

Purple Hull Peas

Well it is that time again....pea picking time! For those of you that have a garden you know what I mean. For those of you who do not, well it is simply time to pick peas in my garden. We plant Purple Hull Peas, there are just too many varieties to list. In this post I will explain how to blanch and store peas in the freezer. If you love fresh veggies and I do, then you can easily store fresh veggies in your freezer for those long winter months.The easiest way to explain blanching is to simply click on the word, I have attached a link that will tell you exactly how to do it. Basically all blanching does is slow the enzymes in veggies so they do not lose their color and flavor while frozen.

After you have blanched the peas you need to cool them off. We usally have a big bowl with water and ice, or you can just fill a sink up with cold water and keep the water at a slow stream to keep the water temp down. Remove the peas from the water (you can use a strainer for this). We then spread the peas out on a towel with a fan blowing to finish cooling.

As soon as the peas are cool we take freezer bags (1quart) and fill the bag a little over halfway full. You should also take into account how large of a crowd you will want to feed. For a family of four I use 2 1/2  scoops of a clean, normal size coffee mug (not the extra large size, just a normal generic mug). This seems to work for my family. You should also label the bags with veggie name and the year that they were put up. My grandmother would eat peas up to 2 years old, but this is strickly up to you. I think 1 year is my max.

Once peas have been labeled you should get them into the freezer as soon as possible. Simply lay the bags flat and try not to stack more than 4 bags on top of each other until they have begun to freeze.

I love fresh purple hull peas. It takes me back to my grandmother's kitchen when she would get the pressure cooker out and cook us a mess of peas. I would fill a plate up and put a dolup of real mayo on top! OH, they were the best. This is this season I miss my grandmother most, God rest her soul. I can still see her picking those peas in the pea patch and talking of how good those peas would be in the winter.

Do you have a favorite summer veggie that you put up? How about some trick or tip to putting up those veggies? Would love to hear them, email me or comment if you have any questions. And remember to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you, because no one knows when it will be the last time you get to tell them!