How to Cook Sugar Snap Peas - Cooks Illustrated

Published May 1, 1997.

Blanching followed by an immediate shock in ice water yields tender peas that hold their shape.

The Problem

Because raw sugar snaps taste chalky and flat, the peas are best eaten cooked--but just barely.

The Goal

A sweet and crispy cross between the snow pea and the garden pea, the sugar snap is completely edible, pod and all. We wanted to determine the cooking method that would best retain their flavor.

The Solution

We found that sugar snaps benefit greatly from the addition of some salt as they cook and that the best way to add salt was to blanch them. Blanching produced peas with excellent flavor and texture. The only problem was that blanched peas tend to shrivel or pucker a bit as they cool. We solved this problem by plunging the cooked peas in ice water as soon as they were drained. This also helped to set their bright color and prevent further softening from residual heat.

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