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Stay Healthy With Peas
Every meal, prepared for yourself or for your family, should be filled with a rainbow of vibrant colours. Colour is your best guide to ensuring that you are consuming a variety of vitamins and minerals in every meal.
Peas come in their own packaging. Pack a handful in your or your child's lunch.
Fresh vegetables should be consumed within 3 days, if stored in the refrigerator and in a plastic bag.
Peas are an excellent source of fibre. Because peas are seeds, they are storehouses of nourishment. They provide a low-fat protein with minimal amounts of fat. Peas are an excellent source of foliate and thiamine. They are also high in iron, magnesium and in vitamin C.
Green peas, snow peas and sugar snap peas are the leading varieties of peas available for consumption.
Green peas
As with all vegetables, fresh green peas are better for you than frozen peas. Frozen peas are better for you than canned peas.
Processing the peas to prevent spoilage also renders canned peas less favourable as a healthy food choice. The canned variety is a more mature pea which has been dried, immersed and processed to prevent spoilage. The colour of this type of pea is less appetizing, the flavour is more bland and the texture, less appealing. Most canned peas also contain unfavourable, additions of salt and sugar.
If you are consuming fresh peas, the organic variety is better for you than the alternative.
Cooking Instructions
1. Wash peas.
2. Boil water.
3. To ensure that the bright, appetizing green colour remains, drop the peas into boiling water. Boiling for 1 to 2 minutes will ensure a firm texture.
4. Drain water immediately to prevent further cooking.
Snow Peas
This tender vegetable is eaten with the pod and before the pod inflates with developed seeds. Best when eaten raw, with a dip, it is commonly used in the preparation of East Asian cuisine.
Steam them for 1 minute or boil them according to the cooking instructions presented above. They will be bright green in colour, still crisp in texture but slightly tender.
Sugar snap peas
Similar to the snow pea, the entire sugar snap pea is edible. This one is eaten after the seeds have matured. Very sweet and crunchy, they are a cross between the snow pea and the green pea. They are best eaten raw. Cooking dulls their sweet taste and vibrant flavour.
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