Do Peas Go Bad?

Peas are small spherical-shaped seeds or the seed-pod of the fruit named Pisum Sativum. Each of the pea pods contains many different-sized peas. A pea is green in color and occasionally golden yellow or infrequently purple. This vegetable is a cool-season growing plant that can be found in the Mediterranean.

Pea has many common names, such as split pea, seed pea, vatana, and matar. The family name of pea is Fabaceae. It is also used for genetic studies. Peas are used in most of the dishes, as in the famous macaroni.

How To Store Peas

Peas are one of the main vegetables which are always needed in the kitchen. The peas are carbohydrates, vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, Calcium, magnesium, and proteins. Keeping pets in the home is not difficult as it seems. Peas can be stored and preserved at home rather than buying it from the local market. Following are the ways to preserve peas,

Freezing

Before freezing, you should give the peas a quick dip in boiling water, ensuring the peas remain bright green. Peas are frozen and kept in houses safe for years. Peas are kept in fresh form when they are frozen. Preserve the peas in polythene bags that are much easier to fit in the freezer and take less.

Salting

Salt is an effective preservative because it reduces the water activity of peas. The water activity is the amount of water available for unwanted molds to grow and feed on the peas.

Drying and Canned

Drying is evaporating all the moisture in the peas, which enables the bacteria, molds, and yeast to reproduce or grow. Peas are preserved when canned as no gas can escape, and there won’t be air for bacteria to live in.

Away From Heat

The heat causes the bacteria to grow on the surface as the optimum temperature for bacteria to grow is 40 degrees. So you must keep your peas away from direct sunlight or any heat source.

Can You Freeze Peas

When the peas are frozen, their shelf life increases, frozen peas gain in taste; they become more versatile. They become budget-friendly and sustainable. The nutrition value doesn’t decrease or increase after or before being frozen.

Peas contain many nutrients and minerals such as vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin A, calcium, antioxidants; these benefits do not diminish when frozen. Frozen foods help with reducing food waste. One packet of frozen peas can take you a long way along. You can make many different meals using one packet before restocking it.

Peas are a popular choice for cholesterol reduction and weight loss. They have lots of carbohydrates, but they are best preferred for snacking because of the number of nutrients contained.

How Long Does Peas Last

Peas only last for 5 to 7 days in the refrigerator, when peas stay for too long, then they tend to turn soft and brown, but the main option of storing the peas is in the freezer, which makes the peas go on for 12 months if they are properly stored. Frozen peas maintain the best quality without turning brown and not losing the nutrients and minerals contained.

Even when the expiration date has passed, it is still safe to eat if they are properly stored in the freezer. The typical commercial peas will carry on after the expiration date because of the chemicals used to keep them fresh when the peas are constantly exposed to 0 degrees of temperature. The peas will remain fresh for 12 months.

Suppose the peas are discarded from the freezer and kept for more than 6 hours at room temperature. In that case, the bacteria begin to reproduce and grow as the bacteria’s optimum temperature is 40 degrees.

How To Tell If Peas Is Bad

The peas can go on without getting spoiled for 12 months, but there are chances that you have not stored properly, and bacteria are growing. The following points show how you can detect if the peas have gone bad and cannot be used.

• White liquid: When you boil the peas, there is white-colored liquid surrounding the peas indicating that the peas have a freezer burn, which means white skin. They are starting to decompose.
• Texture: The smooth sphere peas texture changes to the wrinkled bumpy-shaped sphere. Touch the peas. They would be sticky or slimy, which is not suitable for intake. They turn leathery.
• Color: The color changes from light green to brown when they are spoiled, which indicates that the peas are not suitable for eating.
• Smell: Some peas have a sweet smell which indicates the freshness of the peas, and when the smell is bad, sour, and bitter that it is rotten, which is now meant to be thrown away.

Sources

• Indian Good Food
• Wide Open Eats
• Still Tasty