The best-tasting peas are always fresh from the pod

The canned vegetables of winter were hard to swallow. But it was easy to eat too many of the delicious fresh peas that warm weather brought.

from the July 18, 2007 edition

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A challenge was to get at least as many into the four-quart glass bowl as I got into me. I loved their sweetness. They tasted the way I imagined sunshine would taste if you could eat it. It was hard to stop eating them.

Before I knew about world records, I kept my own. I counted the peas in each pod. Eight was good. Nine was impressive. Ten was excellent. Twelve was remarkable. Thirteen, 14, or 15 was sensational. I got 14 only once. I'm still waiting for a pod with 15.

Someone told me that the peas we shell are called English peas because they originated in England. It turns out he was wrong.

We just called them peas. When I handed the bowl to my mother, I'd say, "Here are the peas." She'd look down at the contents of the bowl. "I thought there'd be more. Did you shell them all?"

"I did," I'd answer. "And I put all the empty pods in the grocery bag and took it out to the garbage can. These are all the peas."

"All the peas?"

"Well ... almost all."

"Maybe you ate some?"

"Some."

She never asked how many peas there are in a "some." I think she understood the craving that pea shelling presented to a 9-year-old. I suspect she bought twice as many peas as she really needed for dinner.

Now, whenever I shell peas, I don't use a bowl. I remove the peas from their pods and put them directly into my mouth, which is what I'd like to believe the farmer had in mind as he sowed their seeds in that warm, green field.

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