- Frozen peas are harvested at the highest ripeness and shock -freezing, which means that their sweet taste and bright green color are preserved.
- Chefs love frozen pea because of their consistency, convenience and ability to give many dishes all year round over natural sweetness.
- Other frozen options such as arable beans, cherries and blueberries save time in preparation and at the same time offer great taste and nutritional value.
The comfort of frozen vegetables is hard to beat. Open a bag of spinach or carrots, put it in boiling water and a super fast side dish is ready in a few minutes. Perhaps the largest sales argument for frozen vegetables is long shelf life. You can increase your supplies when you are on offer in your grocery store or buy a large bag in a warehouse like Costco. And not only hobby chefs trust frozen vegetables; Chefs also fall back on these convenience products.
But let’s be honest: frozen vegetables often have the bad reputation that he lacks taste and consistency. Against this background, I turned to a handful of chefs and asked which frozen vegetables and even fruit would like to have in their freezing cupboards. It turns out that there are many great options, but all chefs recommended frozen peas.
Why frozen peas?
Like many other types of vegetables in the frozen area, peas are harvested, pre -colored and shock -frozen with the highest ripeness to preserve the sweet taste. This is important because “they keep their sweet and bright green color wonderfully,” explains Patrick PragerChef of the Silverado Resort in Napa, California.
“Some frozen fruit and vegetable varieties can be a practical and inexpensive alternative to fresh fruit and vegetables and at the same time offer the taste of the high season,” he says Andrew SchwarzChief Culinary Officer at Counter Service in New York City. Although he currently does not offer frozen vegetables on the sandwich menu from Counter Service, he likes to keep a bag of frozen peas in his freezer at home. “The peas are delivered cooked so that they can easily incorporate the vegetable sweetness into stews or soups shortly before serving.”
Is there something unique in peas that makes it so good from the freezer? Perhaps the largest sales argument is the consistency. Fresh peas are definitely delicious and your time and money are worth it if you find them in your local grocery store or on the farmers’ market. But even if you buy local peas, you have the possibility that you will be starchy when you are a little old.
Even a big chef Bobby Flay says that in 90 % of the cases he prefers to use frozen peas rather than freshness. Why frozen? As other chefs have already mentioned, this is because they are frozen in their highest sweetness and fresh peas, as wonderful as they are, quickly become starchy if they are not used immediately. “Many chefs will tell you that frozen green peas overfore fresh peas in a way.”
Justin Freeman, chef at somebody people, a vegetable restaurant in Denver, Colorado, explains: “If I choose between fresh and frozen, I always think of the seasonality. When peas have a high season, I choose freshness, but in winter I choose frozen. Frozen vegetables are a great option if freshness does not taste so good.”
He likes to add them to pasta sauces and fried rice or “what I cook, that certain extra”. He adds: “Since I moved to Colorado, I have been using frozen vegetables more often, especially to quickly give my children some additional vegetables.”
Prague agrees that frozen peas are a great addition to purees, risottos or pasta dishes. “When it comes to consistency and simplicity in busy cuisine, frozen food is always a better choice.” He says it is not about frozen vegetables that are absolutely better than fresh, but “rather about practicality and consistency on a large scale. Flyed products enable us to use ingredients that may be too labor -intensive or not fresh, and still offer excellent taste and quality to the guest.”
More great tips for the freezer
It is clear that frozen peas are considered excellent quality, but the chefs also offered some of their other favorite options for frozen vegetables and fruit. Like peas, arable beans are a good option to buy them frozen, says Prague. “Fresh favas are delicious, but peeling them twice (once off the pod and again from the scale) is extremely time -consuming on a large scale. Frozen favas are already peeled and blanched, which makes it an enormous time saving in a restaurant kitchen without the quality suffering.”
Besides peas, Black likes to keep bags with blueberries and cherries in his freezer. Cherries in particular have a relatively short season and the removal of the core can be time -consuming. “The frozen blueberries and cherries are ideal for smoothies and baked goods. The preliminary kernel of the cherries saves enormous time.”
The conclusion
While cooks primarily use seasonal, fresh products from the region if possible, it can be difficult for peas, since they have a relatively short season, quickly become strengthful and the peeling is time -consuming. Frozen peas offer an excellent alternative to freshness, as they are harvested and harvested in the highest freshness and then shock frozen to keep their natural sweetness. Keep one or two bags in your freezer and add the peas into pasta, stews, soups or fried rice.
