Think frozen peas are all the same? I’ve tasted 15 brands, and here are the best
Thank goodness for frozen peas. With vegetable shortages likely to drag on, this freezer staple is the ideal fallback.
There was a time when peas were pretty much the only bearable frozen veg in the supermarket, nestled between frozen concentrated orange juice and institutional “mixed vegetables”. These days edamame beans (great in noodle salads), spinach and grilled peppers for shakshuka, and even mixed mushrooms for risotto all merit space in my over-stuffed freezer.
Nutritionally these match their fresh equivalents, possibly even rating better than veg that’s been languishing in the salad drawer for days. “Freezing is nature’s pause button,” says Stephen Francis of growers cooperative Fen Peas. “A freshly cut cauliflower has probably got a two- to three-day journey to get to the shelf. Peas are frozen within 150 minutes,” he explains.
It’s nutrition worth having. As well as the fragile, fast-degrading antioxidants like vitamin C, peas are high in iron and insoluble fibre and contain a decent amount of protein – more than most vegetables, except beans, and like beans they are a complete protein.
Britain is 90 per cent self-sufficient in peas, growing 160,000 tonnes a year, mostly on the fertile east coast between Suffolk and Dundee. They grow in a tangle of low, self-supporting vines and are harvested in an intense 10 weeks from June to August, when huge “pea viners” – specialist combine harvesters – comb the fields, stripping the pods from the plant, bursting them open and separating the peas.
At the processing plant they are assessed with phenomenal rigour, including testing on a Tenderometer, a vice-like contraption that checks how much pressure it takes to squish them, how much water they contain and how juicy they are. Too many loose skins merits a downgrade, as does poor colour: yellowing peas are removed by a targeted puff of air. Blanching follows, and individual freezing in a “freezing tunnel”, so they don’t clump together.
Peas are graded as AA, A, B, C and D, with AA and A grade heading for bagging and selling frozen in premium and standard ranges, and B going into economy-range bags. Other grades have a place in processing – that cottage pie with peas in the mince will feature a lower grade pea, robust enough to stand up to long cooking.
There are two kinds of pea: petits pois and ordinary garden. The two are separate cultivars, although occasionally smaller garden peas will be sold as petits pois. There’s no official size criteria, but most of the petits pois I tried were barely bigger than peppercorns, with the exception being the noticeably larger Birds Eye ones.
Petits pois are the caviar of peas: smaller, and with a distinct “popping” texture to the tiny spheres. They fetch a premium price, as unsurprisingly they have a lower yield per field. You should get tender skins and sweet flavour, with no trace of a mealy texture, for your money.
We are often told that frozen peas taste better than fresh. The truth is more nuanced than that. Frozen peas have a better flavour than peas that have been allowed to swell in the pod for too long, or have been waiting around too long after harvesting (fresh peas degrade quickly after picking and podding, as their sugars turn to starch).
That said, good fresh peas have a particular leafy, herbaceous quality that seems to be lost in the processing. So frozen peas by and large taste good, but are different to fresh, the subtlety of flavour overwhelmed by the sweetness that processors value above all else.
Tasting my way through 15 different bags of frozen peas, one did match that fresh flavour – complex, rather than a sledgehammer of sweetness. So maybe the issue is one of variety not of processing.
There’s another reason that you can usually tell the difference between fresh and frozen peas. It’s the even size. “Like two peas in a pod”, goes the saying but “like two peas in a freezer bag” would be truer. If you have popped open a fresh pod of peas you’ll know that very often they aren’t that similar at all, in size at least.
Perhaps that is why I have a soft spot for the cheapest bags of peas, like Morrisons Naturally Wonky Peas which range from tiny oval pea-lets, the kind that lurk at either end of the pod, right up to centimetre-wide whoppers. They are a hodgepodge of different sizes and degrees of tenderness. The lower sweetness levels make them better for soup, as standard peas can be cloyingly sweet when pureed.
There’s also something reassuringly real about this far-from-consistent rattlebag, and it’s the best option if you’re trying to pass off frozen as fresh. Would I? Laced with fresh mint and chives – you bet.
The value-for-money taste test
Asda Petit Pois
£1.50 for 1kg
Small but dull in colour, they’re also mealy (too much so for petits pois, or ‘petit pois’ as they’re labelled), tough skinned and bland. A touch sulphurous.
Result: 2 out of 5
Essential Waitrose & Partners Garden Peas
£1.70 for 1.25kg (£1.36/kg)
Not bright in colour – in fact some of these peas have gone quite muted, edging towards khaki. Very little flavour. The texture is fine, though.
Result: 2 out of 5
Ocado Garden Peas
£1.15 for 910g (£1.26/kg)
Large and bright, but they quickly become patched with yellow. The peas have slightly tough skins and a soft interior. A little grassiness but I’d like more flavour.
Result: 2 out of 5
Sainsbury’s Garden Peas
£1.25 for 910g (£1.37/kg)
Brightly coloured and there’s a mix of sizes in the bag. They deliver a good pea flavour; not one for you if you like sweet peas, as they taste a bit older, but lots of pea value. Skins could be more tender.
Result: 2 out of 5
Birds Eye Petits Pois
£2.80 for 800g at Sainsbury’s (£3.50/kg)
Extraordinarily tender, so if texture is all then these may be worth the sky-high price. But noticeably larger than other petits pois, and the flavour is bland.
Result: 2 out of 5
Morrisons British Garden Peas
£1.39 for 1 kg
Large and a great colour, a dense texture and good flavour too. These do feel like slightly older peas but I like them.
Result: 3 out of 5
Birds Eye Garden Peas
£2.80 for 800g at Sainsbury’s (£3.50/kg)
Bright and tender, with the poppy-ness of petits pois. Classy, and there’s no trace of mealiness, but not the fullest flavour.
Result: 3 out of 5
Morrisons The Best Petits Pois
£1.65 for 500g (£3.30/kg)
Small and medium green. Not a great deal of flavour but some sweetness. Nice juicy texture though.
Result: 3 out of 5
M&S Food British Petits Pois
£2.25 for 1.25kg (£1.80/kg)
Wizard-of-Oz green, these small peas came with a bit of pod and a bit of stalk in the handful I tried. Quite a few empty skins too. Still, they feel real.
Result: 3 out of 5
Lidl Freshona British Garden Peas
59p for 900g (76p/kg)
Consistent emerald-green colour but on the large side. They’re sweet but there’s not much else going on.
Result: 3 out of 5
Waitrose & Partners Duchy Organic Petits Pois
£2.25 for 500g (£4.50/kg)
Bigger peas than those in the Lidl bag above, and a bright colour, although there is the odd pale or dull one. They have a soft texture, a mild but mouth-filling flavour and a noticeable sweetness.
Result: 3 out of 5
Tesco Finest British Petits Pois
£2.25 for 750g (£3/kg)
On the small side, even for petits pois, and a dull colour. The flavour is mild (bland compared with Lidl’s petits pois) but they have a nice poppy texture.
Result: 3 out of 5
Asda British Garden Peas
£1.25 for 1kg
If you like a bigger pea, these have a great texture – not soft or mealy but gently yielding, and a mild, sweet flavour. Much better than Asda’s tough-skinned petits pois.
Result: 4 out of 5
Morrisons Naturally Wonky Peas
55p for 1kg
Mixed size, less sweet and some mealy ones – more like peas you’ve podded yourself. Better for soups and slow-cooked dishes than regular frozen peas.
Result: 4 out of 5
Lidl Deluxe British Petits Pois
99p for 700g (£1.27/kg)
Teeny-weeny with a deep green colour. Nice grassy flavour; the only ones I tried that had the herby quality of fresh peas. They pop in your mouth pleasingly.
Result: 5 out of 5
