Peas can up very nicely.
It can depend on the variety, of course, but they do not end up dark or mushy as some people fear. Instead, they are appealing-looking, and delicious tasting.
They are nothing like store-bought tinned peas.
To be clear, this procedure applies to fresh, garden peas. It is not for dried field peas. For canning dried whole peas that will stay whole once rehydrated and cooked, as in dried beans, see: Canning beans.
Quantities of peas needed
Numbers are approximate guidelines.
Peas already podded
On average, as a very rough guideline, expect to need about 325 g (11 oz) of podded peas per ½ litre (US pint) jar of canned peas
2 kg (4.5 lb) = 6 x ½ litre (1 US pint) jars canned peas
Peas still in pods
(To be clear, peas must be podded before canning.)
- 2 kg (4 ½ lbs) peas in pods = 1 litre (1 US quart) jar canned peas
- 14 kg (31 ½ lbs) = 7 litre (US quart) jars canned peas
- 9 kg (20 lbs) = 9 x ½ litre (US pint) jars canned peas
The recipe
Jar size choices: Either half-litre (1 US pint) OR 1 litre (1 US quart)
Processing method: Pressure canning only
Yield: varies
Headspace: 3 cm (1 inch)
Processing pressure: 10 lbs (69 kPa) weighted gauge, 11 lbs (76 kpa) dial gauge (adjust pressure for your altitude when over 300 metres / 1000 feet)
Processing time: Half-litre or litre (pint or quart), 40 minutes
Canning peas
Instructions
- If you are starting with peas in pods: Wash pods. Shell peas. Wash peas again.
- Put peas in a large pot, and cover with water.
- Bring to a boil, then let boil 2 minutes.
- Drain, rinse in / under hot boiling water to get some starch off, then drain again.
- Pack hot peas loosely into heated half-litre (1 US pint) OR 1 litre (1 US quart) jars.
- Leave 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
- Optional: a pinch of pickling salt or non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub per jar.
- Top jars up with either the blanching liquid, or fresh boiling water from a kettle, maintaining 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
- Debubble; adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Processing pressure: 10 lbs (69 kPa) weighted gauge, 11 lbs (76 kpa) dial gauge (adjust pressure for your altitude when over 300 metres / 1000 feet.)
- Processing time: either size jar 40 minutes.
Nutrition
Processing guidelines below are for weighted-gauge pressure canners. See also if applicable: Dial-gauge pressures.
| Jar Size | Time | 0 to 300 m (0 - 1000 feet) pressure | Above 300 m (1000 ft) pressure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ½ litre (1 US pint) | 40 mins | 10 lbs | 15 lb | |
| 1 litre (1 US quart) | 40 mins | 10 lbs | 15 lb |
NOTE: You may also do peas as a raw pack. See peas over on the National Center’s site.
Reference information
How to pressure can.
When pressure canning, you must adjust the pressure for your altitude.
More information about Salt-Free Canning in general.
Recipe notes
- USDA directions explicitly say that sugar-snap pod peas and Chinese pod peas are best frozen; that the quality attained by canning won’t be desirable.
- It’s normal for jars of peas to go cloudy after canning. It’s all the starch in the peas leaching out into the water. Even though most people don’t realize it, peas have a lot of starch in them: that’s why they are one of the very few veg that aren’t free on Weight Watchers!
Recipe source
This recipe comes from both the USDA and Ball /Bernardin Complete Book.
- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Complete guide to home canning. Agriculture information bulletin No. 539. 2015. Page 4 – 14.
- Kingry, Judi and Lauren Devine. Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto, Canada: Robert Rose Inc. 2015. Page 390.
Ball, Bernardin and So Easy to Preserve (2014, page 93) add that you should wash the peas again after shelling them.
The USDA 2015 says: Bring to a boil, then let boil 2 minutes. Fill jars loosely with hot peas, and add cooking liquid. ( Note, the USDA also gives a raw-pack option. )
Ball / Bernardin Complete says: Boil small peas for 3 minutes, large peas for 5 minutes. “Drain, reserving cooking liquid for packing, if desired. Rinse peas in hot water and drain again.” (Page 390)
The book, So Easy to Preserve, says, “Corn, peas and lima beans are starchy and expand during processing. They should be packed loosely.” [1] Andress, Elizabeth L. and Judy A. Harrison. So Easy to Preserve. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Bulletin 989. Sixth Edition. 2014. Page 115.
Cloudy jars of peas
The above jar of peas has gone cloudy after a few months in storage. (The minor specks in it are herbs, Ball’s suggestion for Herbed Peas.)
Canned peas can go cloudy in storage owing to the starch in them.
If you have canned your peas following the USDA procedure for home canned peas, there is nothing to worry about.
We think of peas as “green vegetables”, but anyone on Weight Watchers soon learns that peas count as a carb. Peas, like corn, as they get older turn increasingly from “veg” into “carb.” Some varieties of peas can have a lot of starch in them, period. Even other varieties, as they mature, can exude a little starch after canning.
The starch in your jar should not, however, be a mass of starch so heavy that it is a gelled mass. If that is the case, the peas were very mature, and so starchy that the procedure for fresh green peas may not have been sufficient. [2] Source: Elizabeth Andress to Randal Oulton. 20 October 2015. Email on file.
But a light bit of cloudiness floating in the water as pictured in the jar above just indicates some normal starch in the peas (again, provided you know that the proper canning procedure was fully followed.)
This possibility of cloudiness may be why the Ball / Bernardin Complete Book suggests a hot water rinse after blanching, to get some starch off. If you are going to do that for a less cloudy appearance in the jar, then you probably also want to use fresh boiling water as the canning liquid instead of the blanching water.
Nutrition
Serving size: 160 g, drained (about one cup. About one half of a ½ litre / US pint jar, if 325 g went into the jar.)
- 132 calories, 8 mg sodium
- Weight Watchers PointsPlus®: 3 points
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by healthycanning.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
Botulism from improper home canning of peas
Peas must be pressure canned, no exceptions, because they are a low acid food. Botulism occurring from people trying to water-bath can peas was documented as early as 1919.
The researcher Georgina Burke from Stanford reported,
Seven cases of botulism were investigated by Dr E.C. Dickson of Leland Stanford Junior University School of Medicine during the winter of 1917 and 1918, and in four of those cases I succeeded in isolating Bacillus botulinus…. In two of those cases, vegetables were canned by the cold pack (one period) method. One of the cooks stated positively that she had kept the filled jars in a covered boiler with the water actively boiling for three hours. She did not, however, blanch the peas before placing them in the jars.” [3]Burke, Georgia Spooner (Stanford University). The effect of heat on the spores of bacillus botulinus. Its bearing on home canning methods, part 1. JAMA. 1919;72(2):88-92. doi:10.1001/jama.1919.02610020006002.
In 1931, 12 people died in Grafton, North Dakota from water-bathed home-canned peas.
Twelve Dine With Death In Grafton Farm Home, 1931. Walsh County Record.
In June 2018, three women in New York City contracted botulism from improperly home-canned peas, which had been put in a potato salad.
“The patient who prepared the home-canned peas was a novice home canner. She used a peach preserves recipe with a boiling water technique, replacing the peaches with frozen [peas]. The patient was unaware that low-acid foods (e.g., vegetables) must be canned in a pressure canner rather than a boiling water canner to eliminate C. botulinum spores. After the jars cooled, the patient correctly checked for jar seal. One of the jars of peas was not sealed, so the patient covered and refrigerated it, and the family consumed the peas in the potato salad. The U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines state that “foods in single unsealed jars could be stored in the refrigerator and consumed within several days” (1). However, this recommendation applies only to cans that have been correctly processed. In the absence of a pressure-canning step, C. botulinum spores were not eliminated, and the closed jar created an anaerobic environment allowing spore germination and BoNT production.” [4]Bergeron G, Latash J, Da Costa-Carter C, et al. Notes from the Field: Botulism Outbreak Associated with Home-Canned Peas — New York City, 2018. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2019;68:251–252. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6810a5external icon.
References
James Germany
On pint jars for purple hull peas can head space for peas be 11/2 inches and liquid up to the one inch head space
Menolly
Hi! I was wondering if it was ok to can frozen peas. I need to make room in my freezers and I have pounds and pounds of them. Thank you!
Healthy Canning
Yes, it is okay to do so. Just start at step 2. They might be a bit softer than from fresh but will still be fine. See: https://www.healthycanning.com/can-your-freezer/
Vicky
What if the fresh peas have been frozen? Can you still preserve them and how are the canning instructions different?
Stacy
I am starting out with dried whole green peas. Would I soak overnight to rehydrate and follow the rest of the procedure as for fresh?
Healthy Canning
That is as different procedure altogether. See: https://www.healthycanning.com/canning-beans
Jan
So glad to have found your site. I am in the UK and so canning is not so prevalent here. I canned our garden peas following a couple of UK recipes, which said to can for 50 mins at 10lb pressure. I have cloudy jars, but there also seems to be a ‘sludge’ at the bottom of the jars, much like you get in bought processed cans of peas. Is this due to over processing or just he starch in the peas as you suggest. Thanks again for a great informative site.
Healthy Canning
It would be owing primarily to starch in the peas. Out of curiosity, what model of pressure canner did you use, and where did you get it? We ask so that we can provide that as reference to other home canners from the UK who are always asking.
Heather
Hi, I was wondering…is it still a 40min processing time for half pints? Thanks!
Healthy Canning
Yes, the researchers who developed the directions arrived at the same processing time for both sizes of jars.
Joan Brem
The top quarter to half inch of peas in the jar are not in liquid. They turned dark during the canning process. Are the peas still ok to eat?
Also, how long are jars of canned peas still considered safe to eat? I found a couple jars from 4 years ago.
Healthy Canning
Dark peas at top: If the peas were pressure canned according to USDA procedures, yes they are fine to consume. You could use them in a soup where the colour is less noticeable.
4 year storage: If the peas were pressure canned according to USDA procedures, and the seal is unbroken, they are fine to consume.
Debbie Cilwa
I am wondering if it is ok that I didn’t blanch the peas before I pressure cooked them. I put them in the jar, put boiling hot water and salt on them . Then I pressure canned them for 40 min. Are they ok to eat. Just came out cloudy
Healthy Canning
Yes, that is fine, the USDA allows for a raw pack on peas. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/peas_green_shelled.html
Peas often come out cloudy, which is a bit startling at first. But then the penny drops — peas are actually a high starch veg. That’s why they (field peas anyway) can be dried for split pea soup, etc. And the starch is why on Weight Watchers, peas (along with corn and potatoes) are the veg that are not free. But I disgrees — yes, cloudy is normal, it’s the starch in the water.