Jonathan King and Jim Stott Photography by Jonathan King and Jim Stott

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Preparing your garden When you’re ready to plant your garden this spring, remember, peas are classified in many different varieties: Garden peas (English peas): wrinkled-seeded varieties are generally sweeter and usually preferred for home use. The smooth-seeded types are used more often to produce ripe seeds that are used as dry beans and to make split-pea soup. Snap peas: developed from garden peas to have low-fiber pods that can be snapped and eaten along with the immature peas inside, they are fantastic for stir-fry or snacking. Snow peas: flat, tender pods that are picked before the peas inside develop at all. They do seem to have a milder flavor and again are great for salads or healthy snacks.

You love ’em or you hate ’em. From early childhood on, for most of us peas bring back memories of warm and flavorful chicken pot pie, loaded with carrots and tiny peas. Or, not-so-pleasant recollections of being forced to eat “just one more bite”!

We both happen to be big fans of the earliest vegetable crop to pop up in the garden in the New England spring. Our garden is full of them through June when the heat of the summer starts to kick in and the cool loving peas won’t produce. An old Maine adage says “Plant your peas when the peepers start singing.”

Every year Jim gets a kick out of the first night we hear the singing of the peepers, the tiny tree frogs that serenade us each night throughout the summer. Their song is a welcome sign in this region that the last frost is long gone and it is time to plant. We’ve started long before that in the greenhouse where Jonathan has planted flats and flats and more flats of seedlings of all kinds.

Peas are an annual favorite in our veggie garden. We love finding out a bit about anything having to do with gardening. Perhaps you’d like to read a bit of history? Coming from the Middle East to the Mediterranean, the climbing pea plant is said to have been around for 9,000 years. Peas were an important protein in the Middle Ages and a staple in Europe the children’s nursery rhyme “peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold…!” They are full of folic acid, potassium, magnesium, and fiber with only 60 calories in about a half-cup.

Even if you’re in the “hate ’em” camp when it comes to peas, snow peas and snap peas are something you really should try. They are different in texture and taste and, who knows, you may end up loving ’em! We hope you pick your peas this summer, right from the garden or the farmer’s market. Try them in these incredibly delicious recipes. We were served the salmon at a friend’s house last spring and loved the pea pesto! Have fun cooking with peas no matter where you get
them...fresh or frozen...you’re sure to love ’em!

Enjoy! —Jim and Jonathan

Salmon with Peas and Pea Pesto