Just look at those beauties, right there!
As we got a late start on our garden, we are just now receiving the beginning bounty of our labors.
With the help of my delightful little munchkin, we got to picking.
And then with the help of netflix(The Ranch is awesome and I love Sam Elliot with a passion from the 80s) and the delightful MrGillis – we got them separated into pods for stir fry and pods for shucking(or shelling for you non-ME people).
By the time we finished that load it was almost 10pm, far beyond our bedtime quite frankly. So we threw it all in the fridge and called it a night.
The next evening, while MrGillis was putting the munchkin to bed, I got to processing. Really, we’d rather do it all in quick succession, but we’re full time working parents of a toddler. Life, you know?
To best preserve our peas and pea pods, we blanch them in boiling water for 90 seconds and then ice water bath them for 90 seconds as well – that is the general rule of thumb we use for blanching – in the boil and in the bath for the same amount of time. For the pea pods, I did 2 minutes in the boiling water.
After their ice bath, I spread them out on freezer paper lined baking sheets, pop them in the freezer for a few hours until solid and then bag them with our handy dandy food saver (I really love that thing).
I cannot stress enough how proper blanching, freezing and storing will extend your harvest’s life. When you don’t blanch peas, they become starchy and bitter in no time flat. With just a little work, we’ll enjoy sweet and tender peas( and pods) well into the winter.
Well, enough of that. Until next time, have a wicked good day!
Gillis Gardens, LLC 