Homemade Pickled Peas for Winter

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Prepare the ingredients. Green peas are best pickled while they're at the milk stage, when the peas are juicy, tender, and sweet. If you like, you can add cloves and allspice to the marinade, but the pickled peas turn out very tasty even without these spices. You can replace the lemon juice with citric acid.

2. Step 2:

   

   Open the pea pods and pick out the good peas, with no wormholes, damage, or rot. Put the peas in a colander and rinse them under running water to wash off any debris and dirt.

3. Step 3:

   

   Let the water drain off the peas. Put the peas in a saucepan, cover them with water, and leave them for a couple of hours. If the peas are already quite mature, it's better to leave them to soak overnight. Young ones don't need to soak long.

4. Step 4:

   

   Drain the water and rinse again. Cover with cold water and set on the heat, bring to a boil, add the juice squeezed from one lemon (or citric acid) so the peas keep their bright green color, and cook for about 3 minutes. Don't cook longer than that, or the green peas may shrivel.

5. Step 5:

   

   Meanwhile, make the marinade. Pour cold clean water into a saucepan. Add the sugar and salt, stir, and bring the water to a boil. Add the vinegar and bring it back to a boil. Turn off the heat. Sterilize the jars for the peas ahead of time. It's better to use small jars, of course. You can sterilize them any convenient way — in a pot with a cloth on the bottom, or in the oven. The lids need to be boiled too.

6. Step 6:

   

   Pour the marinade over the peas so it covers them completely. Cover the jars with lids and sterilize the 0.5-liter jars for 10 minutes. Seal the jars with the lids. Let them cool at room temperature and store them for winter in a dark, cool place.

7. Step 7:

   

   The pickled peas for winter are ready. In winter, all you have to do is open a jar and add the green peas to any dish. Enjoy!