How to harvest snap peas

Snap pea seeds are before April break so that, just as school is ending for the year, many of those lovely snap peas are ready to eat! Please remember to share, take only one pod per student per day and follow these instructions. And do NOT just pull the pods off the plant or you can damage all the peas yet to come.

Follow these simple harvest steps:

Step 1: Choose the fattest pods

Choose the fattest pods for picking, as skinny pods are less sweet, smaller, and will flatten up in a day or two. It really is worth the wait, and sharing with other harvesters is a kind thing to do. Fat pods tend to be below the skinny pods on the plant, with flowers about to make pods nearest to the top, so look under the leaves and lower on the plant

Skinny pod, don't pick yet

Fat pod from the side

Fat pod from the front

Step 2: Use the two-handed harvest method for picking

It's important to keep the snap pea stems from bending and breaking as you pick so that there will be more left to pick later this week. You can see that some of the pods are still small and flat. These will grow into fat pods in a few days, but they won't get ripe if their main plant is broken.

Grasp the stem near the main plant firmly with one hand (right hand in the photos below) and the pea pod itself near it's stem with the other hand

Holding the main plant end still with one hand to protect the plant, you can pull the pod to disconnect it from the plant with the other hand

Thanks for taking good care of these plants and for sharing the harvest!