This might be stupid and sound like a troll but it's not and a serious question.
Many times in the past, we picked peas from a local farm. Would come home and "shell" them for the peas inside. The pods looked pretty nice and a shame to toss out which we did.
My question is: are those pods edible too? Talking about "regular" peas here. If so, couldn't you just slice them like green beans and eat pod with peas inside? Just like you do with snow peas.
Maybe not as I've never seen them sold commercially, canned or frozen, still in the pods.
Are those pods food or fertilizer for the next year?
Too tough; perhaps if you're making veggie broth....
I'm growing "English" peas for the first time; have always liiked Sugar Snaps. These are part of a "Citizen Science*" project: 3 varieties grown and compared. What I notice is that fresh peas are _way_ better than frozen. I can't even talk about canned without dipping in to my old Navy vocabulary...
pod edibility depends upon variety of pea. some are very delicious and others aren't that good at all.
when they dry some peas are really good for making soup and others aren't as good but can be used in case of starvation. mostly though these types of peas are best eaten when they are still forming in the pod when the peas are very tender and sweet. some of these peas are also good as pods (steamed or fresh).
there are many different varieties of peas.
yes, the other day i ate a few of these pods right from the garden.
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peas are best eaten fresh from the garden (standing in the garden :) in my experience). same with pea pods. i much prefer them uncooked and crunchy. peas in the pods can vary by how long they remain in an edible form in the pods. some peas will turn bitter and hard so they aren't as good as when they first form in the pod. some peas aren't all that great within a few days of forming and others can last longer and still be quite good. just variations upon the type of pea.
canned peas are gross. i'll eat them if i'm starving but otherwise prefer other forms. frozen is acceptable but fresh is always better. sometimes we shell them out and steam them for a few minutes and put a bit of butter on them.
all debris from garden plants are future plant food.
some pods are great and best used well before the seeds inside develop much at all. others are good later and as the pods fill out and the seeds get plump.
and then there are others that the peas are best left to get fully formed and dried down so the peas can be cooked into soups.
some peas are good in all forms.
worms will take care of 'em. :) i keep worms here and they will compost pea pods from the previous summer by the following spring.
That's a good thought - to add them when making broth then discarded later.
And yes, I'm talking about fresh peas (and pods) right from the plant. Rather than "shelling" the peas and ignore those fresh pods. Seemed a waste to not maybe eat them.
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