Elevate Canned Sweet Peas With A Sugary Pantry Staple
Eating canned foods can be a great way to incorporate more produce into your diet. Canned vegetables are much more affordable than fresh, allowing you to increase your vegetable intake even while on a budget. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, canning does not impact the levels of most vitamins and minerals, which means consuming these products can be an inexpensive way to ensure you and your family are getting enough nutrients.
However, it's no secret that canned vegetables don't taste as good as fresh. Thus, relying on these foods means finding ways to make them more palatable. Luckily, this can often be achieved by simply adding more ingredients to elevate the taste of certain vegetables.
When preparing canned sweet peas, one of the easiest ways to improve the flavor is to bring out their natural sweetness. This can easily be done using brown sugar, a simple and inexpensive household ingredient, with little extra time and effort.
How to sweeten peas with brown sugar
Adding brown sugar is an easy way to dress up canned sweet peas. This additional ingredient helps mask the taste of the canned peas by playing to their sweeter, more pleasant side. Start by adding just a bit of the sugar, then taste and increase the amount if needed. This method helps prevent making the peas overly sweet. In addition, since sugar isn't the healthiest ingredient, it allows you only to add as much as needed to make the dish more pleasant.
Either light or dark brown sugar can be used, depending on what's in your pantry. White sugar can even be used in a pinch. This trick also works for frozen peas, which may carry their own adverse flavors. It can be used when preparing sugar snap peas, whether fresh or frozen, as well as a variety of other vegetables.
In addition to masking the canned flavor, adding brown sugar can help make peas more palatable for kids. According to Today, even a bit of sugar can increase the amount of vegetables children are willing to eat. Thus, this ingredient could convince otherwise-picky kids to eat their peas, increasing their vegetable intake and allowing them to receive more vitamins and nutrients.
More ways to elevate peas
Whether you're trying to limit your sugar intake or are simply looking for other methods, there are many ways to revive canned vegetables. Butter can also make peas much tastier, either on its own or combined with brown sugar. Don't forget to season your peas — while salt and pepper are a bare necessity, additional herbs and spices can take your peas up a notch without adding anything unhealthy.
Preparation methods also play a big role in how peas come out. While boiling and steaming are the easiest ways to prepare fresh or frozen peas, and cooked canned varieties can quickly be heated up in the microwave, these aren't the tastiest techniques. For the best peas, sauteeing will bring out a nice flavor, even for just a few minutes to heat peas that were already cooked. Adding garlic or the aforementioned options will take them up a notch.
Canned peas don't need to be bland — any of these methods can be used to elevate them. Try these tips next time you'd like to save a few bucks while still getting your nutritional value, and you'll make your canned vegetables dinner-worthy.