When Do You Pick Snap Peas?

The sugar snap pea is a welcome addition to many stir-fry dishes.

Sugar snap peas make an ideal addition to stir-fry dishes or eaten raw. The entire crunchy shell of the sugar snap pea can be consumed, with the peas remaining inside or shelled from the husk.

Time to Harvest

Harvest sugar snap peas while the pods remain flat. If the peas are allowed to swell within the pod, the plant will lose its crisp, sweet flavor. Harvest the sugar snap peas at three-day intervals.

Harvesting Practice

Grasp the pod firmly and snap it from the vine. A ripe sugar snap pea will snap away easily and with no tearing. The vine will continue to produce ample sugar snap peas until the first killing frost of fall.

Warning

Avoid leaving the sugar snap peas on the vine for more than three days after the peas reach harvest potential. The peas develop a fibrous pod wall as they mature and must be discarded as inedible. Only the small peas will be salvageable, and they may lack the sweet flavor that is expected of them.

References

• University of Illinois: Peas
• Ohio State University: Growing Peas and Snap Beans in the Home Garden
• West Virginia University: Sugar Snap Peas
• National Gardening Bureau: Pea Fact Shet

Resources

• Sunset: Crisp, Delicious Sugar Snap Peas