I love British fozen peas! They are so sweet and lovely.
Here in France, they taste like cardboard. What’s going on?
They’re really easy to grow, if you’ve limited garden space you can grow them in pots. Picked fresh they’re yummy plus if you have loads, pick and freeze immediately they keep the sweetness that way.
3 Likes
I’ll second that. Fresh peas either grown yourself or bought from a good supermarket (bought mine from Grand Frais) are absolutely wonderful. Ours suffered terribly this year because of the canicules and water restrictions which is why I bought them.
I used to buy a big bag of them as a kid in the 60’ s from the local greengrocer and they were dirt cheap and better (and much cheaper) than any bag of sweets.
We grow them. They freeze beautifully and last just fine - we found some 2023 ones at bottom of freezer the other day and they were great. If I had my way our veg patch would be just peas 
.
But superU petit pois are ok in a pea emergency.
Some of the tinned ones are OK eg Daucy, possibly Cassegrain.
Thanks for the reminder though - I should get a bag of frozen peas to keep in the freezer as a first aid item. A bag of frozen peas is handy to keep in the freezer to put on or around many knocks, strains, sprains or bruises etc
Both HyperU and Lidl do ‘Garden Peas’ - not petit pois. We prefer them.
I make a super Raymond Blanc Pea Soup recipe (which freezes well if I double up on the ingredients):
Ingredients - 800ml Water, 1 Garlic clove, 2 Large mint sprigs, 150ml Extra-virgin olive oil, 500g Frozen peas, Sea salt and black pepper.
First thing, bring the water to the boil in a pan or in your kettle. Boiling water will speed up the cooking time and retain the brightness of the soup, as well as its flavours and most of the nutrients.
Finely chop the garlic and coarsely chop the mint leaves.
Heat about a quarter of the olive oil in a large-sized saucepan over a medium heat, add the garlic and sweat it for 1–2 minutes. Add the peas (still frozen, if you wish) and chopped mint leaves and season with a few pinches of salt and a few turns of pepper.
Pour in the boiling water. Bring to the boil for 2–3 minutes.
Turn off the heat and pour in the rest of the extra-virgin olive oil. Then, with a stick blender, purée the soup to the finest consistency.
Taste, taste, taste. Divide the hot pea soup into bowls, and serve.
Top tip - this soup is made without stock. Instead, water is used as a medium as it ensure the taste of the peas is not spoiled.
1 Like
I absolutely love fresh peas from the pod, but really don’t like them cooked in any form. It’s all down the the severe trauma I experienced as a child having to eat what my mother cooked 
. If you maybe think that this is cruel to my mother, she always agreed that she was an atrocious cook. She made Ria Parkinson look like a real chef.
Not my experience, but I have not lived in the UK for nearly 30-years. Are suppliers adding sugar in the UK?
The lidl ones are sweet I think, but no added sugar!
1 Like
I agree. It’s the speed with which they go from plant to freeze - I think it’s typically about 2 hours. Plus (I suspect) pea type and climate.
I use frozen peas here and add them to couscous and so on, for colour and taste.
I cook them two ways:
-
into the pan frozen and add cold water. NO SALT (that’s important as it makes the skins tougher). Bring the water up to the boil and then turn it off immediately. Let the peas sit in the cooling water while you prepare the rest of your meal. They gradually go more tender. Add flavourings (salt pepper etc) when you are ready to use them. Warm them up again if needed.
-
I do them what I believe used to be the French way. Soften a white finely chopped onion in butter in a small saucepan. Add the frozen peas. Slice a little gem lettuce (or two) and lay on top of the peas. Add a small amount of water. Cover with baking parchment or foil and press down. Fit a saucer or small lid into the saucepan and push down onto lettuce. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes. Remove parchment/foil and mix the contents, add seasoning. Adds interest and sweetness to rather boring peas.
2 Likes
@JamesC Don’t know if you have a Noz near to you, but they currently have small bags of Birds Eye frozen peas in stock for €1,09
2 Likes
I think they call them ‘Garden peas’. They are not the minute ‘petit pois’. I like my peas pea-size 
1 Like
Bonduelle petis pois are delicious. Have you tried them?
I find the Lidl ones vary from time to time from being small and sweeter and then they are large and not very tasty. Pot luck but then the price reflects the quality as in most things
Shiba - could the difference you notice in the differing frozen pea size be due to ‘when’ the peas are harvested ? Or if they have been imported ?
And I agree with OP - I never found any real substitute for british frozen peas - I’m sure it’s because of different variety.
Same with celery - I find the french celery to be horribly woody, and tough with cotton wool insides - only suitable for chopping finely and putting into stews. But as for eating raw - yuk. Could only eat the paler centre ‘heart’ of the celery and usually ended up throwing out most of the outer stems. British celery on the other hand - crunchy from outer stems - no cotton-wool - can only be down to being different variety with different growing conditions. Difference with cucumbers as well - there ‘is’ a difference in taste - british ones crisper, slightly thicker green skin - the french ones I found less tasty; nearest equivalent to tasty british ones were the Bio cucumbers - and yes, there really is a difference - thankfully we didn’t eat too many cucumbers - Bio more expensive.
You need to find céleri branche, not céleri feuilles. And Noa concombres, much shorter and more solid with flavour.
2 Likes
JaneJ - well yes - but ther3s only ever one type of celery I’ve seen around, even in Grand Frais. Same for the Noa cucumbers - it’s either ordinary cucumbers or the Bio lot, and 1 choice of celery - no other options !! But next time I’ll look out for the Noa’s - thank you.
I only ever purchase the Noa concombres, like you I prefer these more sturdy little tasty ones 
1 Like
My mother was a saint, and could cook anything except vegetables which she invariably boiled to within an inch of their lives. If I didn’t actually see the vegetable, I often couldn’t distinguish it by taste.
I’ve got a pack of frozen petit pois from SuperU in the freezer, I seem to recall that they were fine tossed briefly in some butter with a pinch of salt.
It annoys me that, whereas fresh fruit and vegetables all have to show the country of origin, the frozen stuff doesn’t. About time the law was changed!