A lot of people find it frustrating to try a new recipe, only to find out that they have no idea of how much of a certain ingredient they will have to get from the store and use. When using peas in recipes, you might be required to use a certain volume (say 2 cups) of shelling peas or a certain amount in pounds. But what do these numbers actually mean and how many peas you’d need as shelled or after the peas are removed? So what amount of shelling peas are there in a cup?
So as we always do, we went right to the local grocery store and browsed around the vegetable section, to get an understanding of how many shelling peas will fit in a pound. So as you might know, you will most likely only find fresh shelling peas at your local farms and the peas will have to be removed from their pods before you can actually eat them.
Most of the time, the peas, when purchased in their pods, will be twice in weight as the shelled peas without the pod. So, from what we could gather, most of the time, one pound of whole unshelled pods will translate into about 1.25 cups of shelled peas. This means that you will be able to make about 4 servings of a pea side dish with the help of about 3 pounds of shelling pea pods.
One interesting fact is that a lady named Janet Harris from Sussex, UK, managed to set a new world record in 1984, by eating 7,175 peas, one by one. This took 60 minutes and she used chopsticks.
You might also like our articles on the weight of green beans, pickling cucumbers, or green onions.
So at this point, you should have enough information to know exactly how many peas you need to buy and use when a recipe will call for a cup of shelling peas. If the information provided isn’t enough, you can always use our conversion tool to figure out the exact measurements for shelling peas in different recipes.
How to Store a Pound of Pea Pods
Try to refrigerate any kinds of peas you have and don’t plan to use immediately. This should be done as soon as possible, to make sure that less of the sugar content will transform into starch.
Shelled Pea Pods Long-Term Storage
Once the shell peas will be shelled, you can freeze them to store them for longer. To do this, you will first have to blanch them for about two minutes in boiling water, and then give them a shock in a bath of ice water, until they are fully cooled off. This will help keep their beautiful bright color. Place them in airtight plastic bags after you have drained and frozen them. Using this method, you will keep them edible for about 5 to 6 months.
Short-Term Shelled Pea Pods Storage
When it comes to their actual shelf life, you should know that shell peas will last very little when stored at room temperature. Make sure you never store them shelled or in their pods if you want them to last just a little longer. Try to place the pods in the refrigerator, inside a plastic bag that should be placed in the crisper drawer. Doing this will ensure that they are good to be consumed within 2 to 3 days.
Pea Side Notes
Did you know that there are in fact two different types of peas? These are the green garden pees that will have to be shelled, and the ones with edible pods, that can be eaten whole. Among the ones that have edible pods, you will find the sugar snap peas and the snow peas and the most common two types. Even though they are in the same category, these two types of non-shelled peas still have a lot of differences between them. Snow peas, also known as Chinese pea pods, will have flat edible pods, while the snap peas will have crisp and plum edible pods.