Another real treat in this week’s box was the pint container of sugar snaps, an edible-podded pea with sweet thick shells and tiny peas. Sugar snaps were the creation of Calvin Lamborn, a plant breeder and virologist, who spent many years in the process of breeding them. He was introduced to a pea with a Read More…
Ingredients:
Sugar Snap Peas
Preparation:
Another real treat in this week’s box was the pint container of sugar snaps, an edible-podded pea with sweet thick shells and tiny peas.
Sugar snaps were the creation of Calvin Lamborn, a plant breeder and virologist, who spent many years in the process of breeding them. He was introduced to a pea with a thick walled pod and crossed it with a snow pea, hoping to solve some problems with snow pea production. The result instead was what we now call the sugar snap, awarded a gold medal by the All-America Selections in 1979.
His pea was such a sensation that he was featured in the April 16, 1979 issue of People magazine. The author Tim Woodward wrote, “Now, thanks to Lamborn, who became a practicing botanist, there’s something new under the harvest sun: sugar snap peas, which can be eaten—raw or cooked—pod and all. Further, Lamborn’s variety is fatter and sweeter than the snow pea and yields up to three times the crop of the common pea. To gourmet James Beard, sugar snaps are ‘nothing short of sensational…a breakthrough for all of us who love crispy, crunchy vegetables.’”