Never a good thing. Starchy and mushy. Part of it is the way that they're treated during the canning process and part is that they're allowed to wait a long time before processing.

Frozen peas on the other hand are a marvel in part because they're frozen quickly after being picked. The longer a pea goes between picking and eating the more the natural sugars convert into starch. Freezing halts the process. Thus the peas you buy in the freezer section of the supermarket sometimes taste better than the ones you buy at the local farmers market. I know that some professional chefs who object to just about all frozen or processed ingredients make an exception for frozen peas.

I think I know what those peas were like. They were huge and starchy and nothing like those deep green frozen peas people eat so many of now. Kids at military schools (not military academies, but public schools on military bases, for the children of active-duty parents) were served billions of those peas with school lunch. I don't really think the ones I ate in the early '60s came from 1919, but I would bet they had been around for quite a while! Being a total vegetable lover, I not only ate mine, but traded away all of my rolls, cakes and cookies for classmates' peas (as well as other vegetables). I was very popular for sitting by at lunch!

Watch it DoninVA...goober peas are normally a healthy and tasty treat. This recent kerfluffle about tainted goober peas is enough to make a fellow embarassed to sign his epistles.

Give (goober) peas a chance!

Goober Pea

Could be worse. Could be brussels sprouts.

In 1960 I was in junior high school with a kid from Austria whose family lived through the Allied occupation of Vienna. Food was rationed. He said that from the Russians they got nothing, from the Brits it was mutton, the Americans gave them everything, but the French give them peas!

The Russians themselves were probably eating 1919 surplus peas.

Ha! War and Peas. Fantastic.

Gray Hat: "Peas? I thought it was s'posed to be peace."

White Hat: "Yeah! They told us when the war was over we'd have peace. If I'd'a known they meant peas I'd'a stayed home."

Skinny Tie: "I slogged my way across France for a buncha peas?"

Warehouse Man: "Knuckleheads."

I think they're Pretty Good.

I hope for whirled peas.

I hope that the million boxes behind the men are not also full of canned peas. Yuck!