On 27/06/2013 5:58 PM, graham wrote:

>> They are on the menu for tonight, along with BBQed shrimp. We had some
>> last night and I have to admit that when I looked at my plate and saw what
>> looked like frozen peas, but a little lighter than usual, I thought what
>> the heck is going on that we are having freezer burned frozen peas. I was
>> so wrong. They were not frozen peas. They were fresh and I have to say
>> they were the best peas I ever ate in my life.
>>
>> I phoned my brother who hates peas and told him to get over to the fruit
>> and vegetable stand where my wife had bought the peas. I told him they
>> were certain to change his mind about pea.
>>
> The trouble with fresh peas is that they start to deteriorate as soon as
> they are picked, becoming hard.
> I worked in a canning factory many years ago and the trucks carrying peas
> from the field to the factory were timed and if they went over a certain
> limit the peas were condemned. Every day a techie went out to the fields
> with a "tenderometer" to make sure that the peas were harvested at optimum
> tenderness.
>

That is not the only problem with fresh peas. As a consumer.... fresh
peas are expensive.It isn't cheap to buy a quart of fresh peas. It is a
lot of work to shuck them. There are sometimes only 4 or 5 peas in a
pod. $4-5 and 20 minutes of work and you get only enough peas for two
small servings.
However... in this case we got 4 servings, and they were incredible.