How to Best Store and Preserve Peas

A legume symbol of spring and summer, peas are a product that would always be good to have in the kitchen: they are not only tender and tasty, but they also have a very rich nutritional profile in which mineral salts, fiber and vitamins stand out. Low in calories, peas lend themselves to many different preparations. But what to do when you want to eat them but they are out of season? It is true that you can find them already frozen, but it is clear that fresh peas are a whole other thing. What you need to do, therefore, is to stock up on them during the season in which they can be found fresh and learn how to preserve them for a long time to enjoy them all year round. Here are the most effective tricks and tips for preserving fresh peas, both raw and cooked.

Preserving Fresh Peas With a "Natural" Method

To best preserve fresh peas, we suggest a very simple but very effective method: it is called the natural preservation method and it allows you to keep preserved peas in the pantry for several months. It is very easy, all you have to do is shell the peas you have purchased, pour them into glass jars still raw adding a generous teaspoon of salt and cover them with hot water that you have boiled separately, leaving at least 1 cm from the closing cap so that there is space to create the vacuum necessary for correct preservation.

Close the jars tightly, turn them upside down and transfer them to the pot, add the water and boil for 15 minutes to sterilize everything; once they have cooled down completely, put them in the pantry, but first make sure that the vacuum has formed by pressing on the center of the lid: if you hear a "click clack" the jars are ready to be stored. Remember that it is best to keep the jars with the peas in the dark, in a cool and dry place, away from heat sources.

Freezing Cooked and Raw Peas

The situation is different if, instead, you have already cooked the peas and want to put them aside so as not to waste them: the only effective way to preserve peas for longer is to freeze them, a preservation method that is always valid when you need to keep a product for a long period of time. And not only that, fresh peas can also be frozen raw.

How to Freeze Cooked Peas

Have you cooked too many peas or do you want to keep them cooked, so as to shorten the time when it is time to prepare them? The best way to keep them aside is to freeze them, because in the fridge once cooked they will not last more than 2-3 days. All you have to do is cook the peas with the technique you prefer (you can just blanch them, steam them or cook them in a pan) and then, once they have cooled, you will only have to put them in suitable containers and put them in the freezer, applying a label to write the date you stored them. Cooked peas can stay in the freezer for several months.

How to Freeze Raw Peas

Freezing raw peas is one of the best ways to preserve them at their best, both in terms of taste and nutritional properties. To do so, you can follow these steps:

• Choose peas with a nice, uniform green color and eliminate any with imperfections.
• Wash the peas carefully and pat them dry with a cloth without crushing them.
• Arrange them on a baking tray suitable for freezing, spacing them out as much as possible, and leave them in the freezer for a few hours.
• Once frozen separately you can move them into food bags and write the freezing date: from that date they can stay in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Another method for freezing peas is the one that involves blanching: in this case what you have to do is immerse them very quickly first in boiling water and then immerse them for a short time in water and ice. The hot/cold shock term allows you to lightly cook the peas but leave them mostly raw and above all to eliminate any bacteria. Only when the peas inside the second container are completely cooled can you drain them and proceed to freeze them as we have already explained. Blanched peas, compared to raw ones, can stay good for longer even in the freezer, even up to a year.