Sugar Snap Search

There are not that many sugar snap pea varieties around and in my experience some of them are very poor, or even wrongly advertised stringy creatures. Until I have the resources to conduct proper systematic trials I am usually just assessing varieties, eh, hand to mouth.. I sourced four varieties this year and have been having a taste of them.

What are sugar snap peas?

Some peas have edible pods that lack the fibrous ‘parchment’ layer which is present in the inner walls of the pods of other peas. This includes the thin walled flat podded ‘snow peas’ which predate sugar snaps. A cross of a snow pea with a shelling pea led to the development of the sugar snap in the last century and they have been on the market since 1979. They differ from snow peas by having thick pod walls that are narrower, round in cross section and with a tendency to curve when maturing.

‘Hetman’

I got this from an online Polish seed company.

  • Nice height reaching just over 100cm
  • Crops early and heavily but within a short window
  • Great tasting stringless sugar snap
  • Colour of the pods a little pale
  • Would succession sow this one

‘Magnolia Tendril’

Sourced from Bakers Creek in the US, apparently the first ever purple podded sugar snap pea. Bred by Alan Kapuler.

  • Very tall growing more than 2m so not practical unless you have high trellesing
  • Very tendrilly and pretty plants
  • Small pods with good flavour but better cooked when larger
  • Keep their colour with cooking
  • Some plants had green pods
  • Good for a mix of ornamental/edible
bowl of sugar snap peas

‘Sugar Snap’

This has been saved by a friend of mine for a number of years who got it from the Seed Co Op in the UK who are sadly not in operation anymore (as far as I know).

  • Vigorus
  • Good crop spread over a longer window than Hetman
  • Dark green vibrant pots
  • The best flavour and texture of all
  • Very sweet
  • If I had to grow only one of the four it would be this one

‘Sugar Daddy’

Another one from Bakers Creek in the US, bred by Dr. Calvin Lamborn, the breeder who created the first sugar snap peas.

  • Short plant reaching around 60cm
  • Could be grown without support or, as I did, stick some branches in the ground
  • Reported to be resistant to powdery mildew
  • Great name obviously
  • Unfortunately the pods were not at all as described (“superbly snackable and intensely tasty…truly stringless”) – they were very stringy and not so sweet at all.
sugar daddy snap pea

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