yes I do, and I am lazy and get fed up shucking peas, so this year, rather than throw away perfectly good pea pods, I have grown sugar snap peas which you can eat, pods and all. They are so delicious and sweet and so easy, pick, quickly cook, or scoff raw, and enjoy. I have grown some main crop regular peas, but next year I think I will just grow mange tout and sugar snaps. I'm not so keen on whole baby broad Beans in their pods, the plant breeders need to get on the case.
Not sure what kind of peas you have but here in the south we have purple hull peas. We pick bushels of them. Thats why we invested in an electric pea sheller.
Sugar Snaps are delicious, I have tried growing them but I guess I am doing something wrong cause I never get even a bloom.... I think summer temps starting in Feb has something to do with it. This year I am going to put some in the ground in late November, then in late December and see what happens
But EJ--those pods and so forth are good composting material. I will say though that I have been shelling so many broadies and kapucijners now that I am getting a bit tired of it myself...but what's a bloke to do?
I prefer sugar snap peas over shelled peas anytime. I love the texture of them and the ease of freezing them. When I first I heard of them I thought 'Great'! I can have peas and no shelling. Not knowing how they would produce and wanting to freeze a years supply, I planted three, 35 foot rows. I never froze a package. My kids loved them raw and would pick them like candy every day! I figured they were healthier fresh so I didn't complain.
When shelling those kapucijners, my fingers got deeply purple!. Took a couple of good washiings to get the stain away....but boy, oh boy--what a taste those fresh kapu´s had!
Last year, our peas did so well, the vines were loaded, but humidity caused mold to grow on them in areas hidden from my view. I didn't plant any this year.
