Delicious, healthy and reasonably priced, there seems to be no downside to canned peas. Although... wait a minute, there is still one thing: his mystery. This product is carefully hidden from the consumer’s eyes under dense packaging and a colorful label, and therefore choosing a can of peas from six or seven offered in the store and then not regretting it is not an easy task. You can be guided by the cost. You can rely on a manufacturer you already know. You can rely on intuition... Or you can “turn on” all five senses and act like a good detective.
We look carefully...
...for packaging. Of course, glass containers for canned food are better. Firstly, stale (cloudy filling with a thick consistency) and overripe (shapeless, damaged) peas will not be hidden under it. And secondly, it will not enter into a chemical reaction with the contents of canned food.
But we often deal with tin cans, so we will choose from them. Let's carefully examine the surface of the selected sample: there should be no dents or swelling on the can - this is a clear sign of bombing. In other words, the product has deteriorated and gases have formed inside, which “damage” the container. By the way, unopened peas can be stored at room temperature, but if the container is open, it is better to keep them in the refrigerator and use them within several days.
...on the label. The manufacturer of the “correct” peas will definitely indicate his address, will not forget about the expiration date and storage conditions of the product, and will also describe the composition in detail. Give preference to canned foods that do not contain food additives, sweeteners or other flavor enhancers. Of course, manufacturers can claim that “chemistry” is necessary to preserve peas, but this is not so; heat treatment is quite sufficient. The ideal composition of canned food is, in fact, peas, water, sugar and salt.
...at the production date. Ideally, young, green and juicy peas should be selected for preservation “straight from the garden.” But in practice, dry peas that have been soaked and then preserved can end up in jars. To avoid being left with beans, carefully examine the product's manufacturing date. The best peas are produced at harvest time, usually in the summer, June or July. In addition, the date can “tell” whether the product is spoiled: the maximum shelf life is 5 years.
...for the pea variety. For canning, smooth-grain and marrow varieties are usually used. Smooth grain peas are large, round and smooth, beautiful and representative, with a mealy taste - they are added to salads and used to decorate dishes. The brain one is smaller, oval in shape, tasty, sweet and aromatic. It will also be good in salads, but unlike smooth grain it will not just complement them, but will add its own unique flavor note. It also makes excellent pates, purees and pie fillings.
...by the weight of the main product (peas). Few people are interested in the amount of filling: only thrifty housewives use it for soups and sauces, but usually the brine is simply poured out. Another thing is the peas themselves. In tin cans that look exactly the same, it can be either 250 or 300 g. The difference is actually huge! After all, 50 g is two heaped tablespoons. This is exactly how many peas are needed to prepare two servings of Olivier salad or three bowls of pea soup.
Let's listen
Shake the can of peas slightly before placing it in the basket. An ideal product should make a minimum of sounds. If the peas helplessly hit the wall, it means there is not enough brine in the container. Gurgling and croaking contents indicate that there is a lot of air in the jar, which reduces the quality of the product. And only the rustling proves that the canned food was rolled according to all the rules.
Unfortunately, we can only “turn on” our senses of touch, smell and taste at home. But this is not bad either: next time we will know for sure which manufacturer is more decent. Moderately ripe and well-cooked peas feel elastic to the touch and offer little resistance when crushed. If they also smell nice, put them in your mouth without delay. Or add to dishes. Have no doubt: good canned peas will complement any salad, be it traditional vinaigrette, Olivier salad or less traditional meat and seafood salads. It is a welcome guest in soups, hot vegetable dishes, casseroles and pastas, such as with ham. They can be used to decorate roasts and pizza. It will make a delicious vegetarian pate and rice with vegetables... You never know what else! If only I had a jar of my favorite, proven peas in my bins, there would always be a use for it.
Pros and cons of green peas
Pros:
Lots of protein. There is no less of it in green peas than in beef (18-20 g per 100 g of product). This product will help replenish protein reserves during diets and fasts, especially in combination with cereals.
Satisfying. Thanks to the optimal combination of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, as well as the high content of starches, peas take a long time to digest, which means they drown out the “eternal voice of hunger” for a long time.
Protection for the heart and blood vessels. Peas contain a lot of lecithin and unsaturated fatty acids, which have a good effect on the cardiovascular system. In Latin American countries, where legumes are in high demand, coronary heart disease is rare.
Cons:
Gases. Peas are “heavy artillery” for delicate digestive organs, especially for those that are not very healthy. To avoid suffering from flatulence, give preference to canned food, it is easier to digest. And don’t turn peas into a meal on their own, but add little by little to salads and vegetable dishes. The more “neighbors” he has on the plate, the better.
High calorie content. 300 kcal/100 g is no less than in rice, and more than in bread. Therefore, those who are watching their figure should eat peas not in jars, but as part of mixed dishes.
Every housewife must have a jar of green peas in her bins, especially in the autumn-winter period, when salads such as Olivier salad, cod liver salad, squid salad, etc. become popular. It is so tasty and healthy that it would seem, what disadvantages could it have? In fact, there is a lot to think about here, so we suggest taking a closer look at this wonderful product and finding out what the benefits and harms of canned green peas are, and how to choose them correctly.
And here are its best advantages:
- High content of vegetable protein. It is contained here up to 18-20 grams. per 100 gr. product. Thanks to this, it is excellent for use during diets and fasts, especially if consumed together with cereals.
- Optimal combination of protein and carbohydrates. Thanks to this, peas become a very filling product with minimal calorie content (only 60-70 kcal per 100 grams). Due to the high protein content, it digests for quite a long time, maintaining a feeling of fullness.
- Protects the heart and blood vessels. Peas contain unsaturated fatty acids and lecithin, which are very important for our body, which play a huge role in the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
Harm of canned green peas
If we talk about fresh peas, then they have no drawbacks. Except that it is somewhat heavy for the digestive system, and can cause flatulence in people with a weak gastrointestinal tract. But the preservation process corrects everything - such peas are much more tender and easier to digest.
How to choose the right canned peas?
Given that most manufacturers produce peas in a tin, you have no way of knowing what's inside, so try to use the following as a guide.
Package
If you have the opportunity to choose glass containers, great - here you can immediately see how high-quality the product is in color and density. For example, a cloudy, thick filling hides stale or unripe fruits. If you still choose a tin can, then first look at its integrity - there should be no dents or bulges. This indicates that the product is spoiled.
Label
The label of a quality product always provides comprehensive information: legal address of the manufacturer, expiration date and packaging date, detailed composition. The composition should not contain any food additives, sweeteners, or preservatives. Some manufacturers convince that additives are necessary to preserve the product, but this does not apply to heat-treated products - after all, when you close jars of jam at home, you do not add anything there for preservation. The ideal composition of canned peas is simple - water, peas, salt, sugar.
Pea variety
In canning, only two types of peas are usually used - brain and smooth grain. The first is oval, sweet, aromatic, tasty - great for salads, pates and fillings. The second one is larger, smooth, beautiful with a mealy aftertaste. Also great for salads and garnishing dishes.
Tasting
Unfortunately, tasting is only available after purchase. But after trying it once, you will already know for sure whether it is worth buying a similar product next time. High-quality and ripe fruits feel quite elastic to the touch, offer little resistance, without falling apart at the slightest touch. Good peas smell good. There should be no sediment in the filling; ideally, the brine should be transparent.
We continue the topic “How to choose...” and this time the object of my attention was an equally popular product for the New Year's table - canned Green Peas!
As you know, almost no salad can do without it. And during the holidays it is one of the popular products on the shelf.
Green peas are a very healthy product in any form.
And even when canned, green peas retain almost all the valuable nutrients in which they are so rich: potassium salts, phosphorus, calcium, B vitamins, carotene, vitamin C and PP, oxalic acid, purines, fiber. And green pea protein contains all the essential amino acids, albeit in small quantities.
This concludes my short excursion about usefulness.
And now I’ll tell you how to choose delicious canned green peas.
1. We examine the appearance of the container.
Canned green peas on our shelves are more often found in cans.
When purchasing, you need to pay attention, first of all, to the appearance of the can.
Cans that are dented or touched by rust should never be taken, because a piece of enamel inside could break off.
And when the metal interacts with the product, oxidation of the metal will occur. And this will negatively affect the quality of the product.
Under no circumstances should you use such a product!
Glass containers are definitely better! Here you can evaluate the color and appearance of the peas.
But when examining glass containers, you also need to be careful: the lid should not be swollen.
This means that air has entered the jar, and this can also lead to oxidation of the product, and the product will be dangerous to your health.
2. Appearance of the product (in glass containers)
The peas should be whole, bright, without separated skins or sprouts.
The color of canned peas can be green or light green
olive
or even yellow
But the peas must be the same color and shape.
If there are brown beans in the jar, the batch is defective!
A cloudy white sediment at the bottom of the jar indicates that the peas contain a lot of starch, that is, the product is overripe and will be tough.
3. We carefully study the label!
The most important thing is to choose green peas according to GOST (GOST 15842-90) and pay attention to the type of canned food: the most delicious peas will be of the highest grade or “extra”!
Reading the composition.
Ideal composition: fresh vegetable peas, water, sugar, salt.
If a preservative is used, it means the technology is broken or something is wrong with the equipment.
It also contains calcium chloride: it is a hardener.
I also do not recommend buying these peas.
First, let's look at the varieties of green peas:
- brain - the highest grade. After cooking it turns even greener. Smooth grain - contains less sugars. After cooking it becomes gray-green in color; sugar - not processed;
PS. The label "brain" on a can of canned sugar peas means that these are the best variety of sugar snap peas.
Look not only at the expiration date, but also at the manufacturing date.
The most delicious peas are obtained during the harvest season: June or July.
If the peas were made in winter or autumn, then dry peas were used, those that were previously soaked and steamed, and then preserved. Such a product is unlikely to retain the vitamins and other beneficial properties of green peas, and its taste will be strongly reminiscent of starch.
Sometimes on store shelves you can find canned food made from freeze-dried peas that have undergone a “recovery” process. But the quality of such canned peas is much lower than that of brain peas. Freeze-dried peas are usually manufactured according to specifications. It tastes harsher. Although the price per jar is much lower. You can also recognize it by the date of manufacture.
Happy shopping!
Green peas gained their well-deserved popularity many thousands of years ago. Growing green peas is not particularly difficult, both in terms of care and the climatic conditions in which they can grow. The product was popular not only among peasants, but also among kings and other noble persons. The combination of peas with other ingredients gave rise to delicious, unique dishes. For example, the French nobility loved to eat green peas cooked in lard.
Green peas in Russia
In Russia, green peas have become widely known since the reign of Peter the Great and have not lost their popularity since then. And now we cannot imagine the famous Olivier salad, mashed potatoes and other dishes without green peas. And so that we can enjoy its taste at any convenient time of the year, there are canned green peas.
The undoubted advantage of this product is its unpretentiousness in storage - green peas do not have to be put in the refrigerator; it is enough to put them in a place protected from moisture and direct sunlight.
A canned product, if it is of high quality, retains all the beneficial and taste properties of fresh green peas. GIPAR products offer you exactly this option.
How to choose quality green peas
- First of all, you need to look at the date of production - peas should be canned in May or June, since this time is the time of harvest. If the peas were canned in the fall or winter, then, most likely, the manufacturer canned dried and then soaked peas, which, accordingly, indicates the low taste of the product. Therefore, it is not worth buying such peas.
- Look at the label. When choosing peas, you need to pay attention to what is written on the can. The GOST inscription indicates that green peas are canned in strict accordance with the recipe - inside the jar there are only the peas themselves, salt, sugar and water. The name TU means less stringent preservation conditions, that is, the manufacturing conditions are established by the manufacturer himself. In this case, canned green peas may turn out to be too salty or sweet, or differ from the required taste characteristics for the worse: overripe, broken, brown or starchy peas may be found in the jars.
- Check the jar. The tin must be intact, without any dents or signs of bombing of the can - in this case, bacteria dangerous to the human body penetrate into the canned food, destroying the nutrient medium of the product.
- Shake the jar. If you hear the sounds of shimmering water, this means that the manufacturer did not add the required amount of peas to the canned food, and, therefore, you should not purchase this product.
- Study the composition. If, in addition to the components listed above, the canned food contains other substances, then there is no need to buy this product - the harmful elements will not benefit you. In addition, the pea brine should not be cloudy.
Why you should eat green peas
- Regular consumption of green peas reduces the risk of diseases such as hypertension, cancer and heart attacks.
- Green peas slow down the aging process of the body, which means it has a direct effect on making you look younger.
- Canned green peas relieve hangover symptoms and improve sleep.
The products of the GIPAR company meet all GOST standards; you will not find preservatives or other harmful substances in the product, and the taste of canned green peas will leave the most pleasant gastronomic impression.
