Super Sugar Snaps

The sugar snap peas, as you may be able to deduce from this image, are starting to ripen en masse. The peas reach a peak sweetness, marked by a notable plumpness. When left too long on the plant, the sweetness begins to degrade, the sugars converting to starch. Hence the imperative of picking them at the peak, and consequently finding a place to put them--that is, sell them. It took only a few phone calls to nearby grocery stores this morning to unload 70 pounds of peas like it was nothing. Yet it was plenty to be sure: when I laid them out to dry from their rinse, there was hardly a bit of table visible beneath them, and it's a pretty long table.