Peas, green, frozen, untreated (organic?)

Frozen green peas ( Pisum sativum subsp. sativum) are quick and easy to prepare.

Use in the kitchen

Since green peas do not last very long and lose their flavor quickly, they are often found as frozen peas.

Can you eat frozen peas raw? Since peas contain very little phasin, you can eat them raw in small quantities. Frozen peas are usually blanched briefly beforehand, which is why they are no longer raw. Frozen peas can be eaten like fresh peas without being heated up first. The best way to do this is to let the frozen peas thaw in the fridge for a few hours or let them warm up at room temperature.

How can you cook frozen peas? If you want to cook frozen peas, you can briefly pour hot water over them in a sieve before using them. This reduces the cooking time. Alternatively, you can let the peas thaw slowly in the refrigerator.

Peas go well with sweet vegetables such as carrots, corn or red bell peppers. They also go well with chard or spinach. They go well with a coconut curry or a coriander-ginger sauce. Frozen peas are also easy to make delicious soups, for example a pea and leaf spinach soup or, in summer, a chilled pea and herb soup. Alternatively, you can also use them to make green pea pancakes.

Vegan recipe for rice pan with peas and carrots

Ingredients (for 4 people): 300 g rice, 4.5 dl drinking water, 1 spring onion, 150 g frozen peas, 200 g Chinese cabbage, 2 carrots, 1 red bell pepper, salt, pepper, 3 tbsp soy sauce, rice vinegar.

Preparation: Rinse the rice in a sieve under cold running water until the water is clear. Then drain the rice well. Put the rice and water in a pot and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Then cover the pot with the lid, turn off the stove and let the rice swell for at least 15 minutes. Never lift the lid. Loosen the rice with a fork. Wash and chop the spring onions, Chinese cabbage, carrots and bell peppers, then sauté briefly in a large pan with the peas. Then season with soy sauce, rice vinegar, salt and pepper. Add the rice and mix well. Stir-fry for approx. 10 minutes.

Vegan recipes with frozen peas can be found under the note: " Recipes that use the most of this ingredient ".

Purchasing - Storage

Frozen peas can often be found in the range of large supermarket chains such as Coop, Migros, Denner, Volg, Spar, Aldi, Lidl, Billa, Rewe, Edeka or Hofer, occasionally also in controlled organic quality (organic quality). Frozen peas can also be bought in organic supermarkets such as Denn's Biomarkt or Alnatura. Frozen peas are available all year round.

The availability of green peas in the supermarkets mentioned varies depending on the size of the store, catchment area, etc. If you are interested, click on our recorded food prices for the DA-CH countries (above under the ingredient image). There you will find current prices from various supermarkets and their price development.

Storage tips

Fresh green peas will keep in the fridge for a few days, but it is best to eat them within 1 to 2 days. Frozen peas can be kept in the fridge for up to 12 months.

Ingredients - Nutritional values - Calories

Frozen peas (organic) are low in calories and fat. They contain only 77 kcal and 0.4 g fat per 100 g. The carbohydrate content is moderate at 14 g/100g. 100 g of fresh peas have a protein content of 5.2 g, which covers around 10.4% of the daily requirement. Peas are rich in fiber at 4.5 g/100g. This corresponds to 18.0% of the daily requirement. ¹

Do peas contain vitamin K? 100 g of frozen peas contain 28 μg of vitamin K, which corresponds to 37.0% of the daily requirement. Sauerkraut and sugar peas have a similar value. Raw kale (705 μg/100g) and chard (830 μg/100g) have very high vitamin K values. This corresponds to 940% and 1107% of the recommended daily dose. ¹ The absorption rate is 20 - 70% (the absorption rate of the vitamin in the body). Toxic properties of vitamin K from food are not known. ²

Folate (folic acid) is found in peas at 53 µg per 100 g, which corresponds to 27% of the daily requirement. Pointed peppers (53 µg/100g) and asparagus (52 µg/100g) have similar values. Young spinach, which can be eaten raw as a salad, contains more folate. Raw spinach contains 194 µg per 100 g, which covers 97% of the daily requirement of folate. ¹

Thiamine (vitamin B1) is also present at 0.26 mg/100g. This corresponds to 24.0% of the daily requirement. Fresh peas (0.27 mg/100g) andcooked black beans (0.24 mg/100g) have a similar content. Flaxseeds are particularly rich in thiamine at 1.6 mg/100g and yeast flakes at 41 mg/100g. ¹

The complete ingredients of frozen peas, the coverage of the daily requirement and comparison values with other ingredients can be found in our nutrient tables. In the article Nutrients explained you will get a detailed insight into the topic.

Effects on health

Are green peas healthy? Frozen or raw organic peas are healthy because they contain important vitamins and minerals and are rich in fiber. The fiber in particular is worth mentioning, as it has a variety of positive effects on our health. It is responsible for a healthy digestive system ¹⁰, has a positive effect on blood sugar levels when eating carbohydrates and starchy foods and can thus reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes ¹¹. A diet rich in fiber leads to a longer feeling of satiety, which can help with weight loss. ¹² In contrast to fresh peas, they contain less vitamin C, but their vitamin K content is slightly higher. ¹

Dangers - Intolerances - Side effects

Peas are one of the legumes that have a high nutritional value, but can also cause severe allergic reactions. Some of the most potent and common allergenic foods belong to the legume family (peanut, soybean and lupine). ¹³ In contrast to these, peas are not an ingredient for mandatory allergen labeling. Severe allergic reactions in children and adults have been documented, but are rare. ^14,15,16 As the food industry increasingly replaces soy protein with pea protein, there are more and more products with 'hidden' protein from peas. ¹⁵ People with an allergy to legumes should be careful when eating peas. People with a peanut allergy in particular often also react to soy, lupine and peas. ¹⁵ However, cross allergies have also been documented between lentils, chickpeas and peas. ¹⁶

Ecological footprint - animal welfare

The ecological CO ₂ footprint of frozen green peas is slightly higher than that of raw green peas (0.67 CO ₂ eq/kg), but is still quite low at 0.87 CO ₂ eq/kg. ¹⁷ To produce 1 kg of green peas, 595 litres of water are needed, similar to the amount of water needed to produce green beans (547 litres) or okra (576 litres). ¹⁸

Legumes such as peas or soybeans bind important nitrogen in their root nodules, which is then available to other plants in the soil after harvest and naturally increases soil fertility. Accordingly, they are suitable plants for crop rotation in organic farming. In addition, the integration of legumes in crop rotation can help to break the life cycle of certain pathogens, make important nutrients available and improve soil structure. ¹⁹

Peas are also becoming increasingly important for the production of meat substitutes. One study compared land use for the production of peas and meat substitutes with that for the production of meat. The result clearly showed that substituting meat in the diet with plant-based protein sources such as legumes could help free up agricultural land, which in turn could benefit ecological biodiversity. ²⁰

When buying peas, you should choose peas from organic farming. In contrast to conventional farming, no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides are used here. These are often also found in the end product, as is the case with peas. ²¹

Worldwide occurrence - cultivation

The pea is one of the first cultivated plants. It was bred 10,000 years ago in the Middle East from the wild pea ( Pisum sativum subsp. elatius, Pisum sativum L. subsp. biflorum ( Raf.). ^6,7

In international trade, no distinction is made between green peas (garden peas) and sugar peas. According to FAOSTAT, around 21.8 million tonnes of green peas were grown worldwide in 2020, with the main growing areas being China, India and the USA. ⁸ In addition to green peas, 14.7 million tonnes of dry peas were grown. The main growing areas for dry peas were Canada, Russia and China. ⁹ Dried or frozen peas are important sources of protein in many parts of the world.

Found in the wild

The wild pea ( Pisum sativum subsp. elatius, Pisum sativum L. subsp. biflorum ( Raf.) Soldano) is found in the Mediterranean region and parts of Central Asia as far as Iran and Turkmenistan. ⁶ Also closely related to the garden pea ( Pisum sativum subsp. sativum) and the wild pea is Pisum fulvum Sibth. & Sm., which only occurs in the Middle East. ⁷

Cultivation - Harvest

Peas prefer a sunny spot and humus-rich soil. They can be sown directly outdoors or grown in a greenhouse and then planted out. Most pea varieties can be sown from the beginning of April, or the seedlings can be planted out from then on. To do this, sow the peas every eight to ten centimeters in a seed furrow about three centimeters deep. The row spacing between the seed furrows should be at least 40 cm. Hoe the bed regularly and mulch if necessary or slightly mound up the soil around the larger young plants. A trellis helps the peas to grow. Water only moderately at first, as soon as the pea plant forms flowers, but keep the soil evenly moist during pod development. ³

The harvest time depends on the type of pea. Pale peas can be harvested from the end of May. Marrow peas and sugar peas are usually harvested from June. ^3,4 For the industrial production of frozen peas, marrow peas are often used. These have to be removed from the pods immediately after harvesting so that the peas do not ripen and the sugar is not converted into starch, which makes the peas taste mealy. As soon as the peas are clearly visible in the pods, they are ready for harvesting. The pods can simply be broken off at the base, or you can cut them off at the base of the stem with a knife or scissors. ⁴

Special harvesting machines are used for industrial production. These cut the pea plant close to the ground. The plants are then placed in several integrated drums and rollers that break open the pods and 'knock' the peas directly out of the pods. The pod and the rest of the plant are returned to the field. The machine collects the peas in a separate container. ⁵

Industrial production

For the industrial production of frozen peas, marrow peas are usually used, which have a sweet, nutty taste. After the peas are harvested, things have to happen quickly, as peas lose their freshness within one to two days. For processing, the peas are washed and foreign bodies are sorted out. The peas are then blanched briefly in hot water so that they last longer. The peas are then briefly shocked in cold water so that they retain their green color. The peas are then frozen in large freezers with constant movement so that they do not stick together. The peas are then sorted by size using a sieve and packaged or stored for further processing at a later date. ⁵

Further information

The pea ( Pisum sativum L. subsp. sativum) belongs to the Faboideae subfamily within the legume family (Fabaceae or Leguminosae). Peas can be roughly divided into three groups: shelled peas, marrow peas and sugar peas. Shelled peas and shelled peas only remain tender for a short time and tend to become mealy more quickly due to their high starch content. This variety is popular for making dried peas. Marrow peas have a small grain and are very sweet, which is why they are sometimes incorrectly called sugar peas. They are often used to make canned or frozen peas. 'Real' sugar peas are eaten with the shell as long as the grains are still underdeveloped. ³

Alternative names

Peas are also known as garden peas or table peas. The different types of peas have different names, the best known are shell peas, pale peas, and marker peas. Sugar peas are often also called sugar snap peas (more information under the link to the ingredient sugar snap peas)