Quick Refrigerator Pickled Peas

Quick Refrigerator Pickled Peas are a great way to use up an abundance of snap peas. Snap peas are one of my all time favorite veggies. I have a particular happy memory of being a kid spending summers at my grandparent’s house and raiding my grandfather’s garden for snap peas. I’d sit in the grass in the warm sun and methodically strip each pea plant of the lovely plump peas, blissfully munching away. I absolutely loved fresh veggies as a kid, and hanging out with my grandparents as they gardened definitely planted the seed (if you will) for me to be a gardener myself. Snap peas just taste like summer to me. Sweet and crispy, they are perfect as they are, straight off the vine.

If, however, you have an abundance of snap peas and are looking for another way to prepare them, quick refrigerator pickled peas are a definite must. I love that mild temperatures on the Oregon coast allow snap peas to keep on growing well into the summer months. We’ve had snap peas for several weeks in a row now from our CSA, so I’m definitely counting this as an abundant snap pea summer.

Quick refrigerator pickles are also a great way to keep veggies nice and crisp in a pickling brine. They can last several weeks in the fridge (if you don’t immediately eat them all, like I am sometimes inclined to do). Quick refrigerator pickled peas also take very little prep time. You can toss in whatever seasonings you want - you could use pickling spice or could just use a few cloves of garlic and some whole peppercorns. Personally, I prefer tossing in some red pepper flakes for some kick.

I’ll often toss quick pickles into a salad. I’ve also been known to serve them as part of a cheese plate. I also like to pack a few quick refrigerator pickled peas in my lunch box to enjoy along side a hard boiled egg. The pickled peas lend a salt and vinegar tang to the boiled eggs. You can eat these a day after making them, though they are best if they get a chance to cure for a few days.