Sugar Snap

Sugar Snap is prized as a raw garden snack, said to outshine dwarf snap pea varieties in flavor even though it takes more effort to grow. Its thick, crunchy pods run about three inches long and are packed with sweet peas, a combination that earned it an All-America Selections award. The pods are stringless and reach their best sweetness only once fully filled, and the vines yield heavily over a long season. Crisp and sweet enough to eat straight from the vine, the variety's 1979 AAS win helped cement its reputation as a garden favorite.

Sugar Snap is best enjoyed fresh, picked straight from the vine and eaten whole as a crunchy snack on a veggie platter or mixed into a salad. If pods are left too long and turn overripe, they can simply be shelled for their green peas instead of eaten pod and all. The pods and peas can also be cooked, steamed, or frozen, so the same harvest works raw, in the kitchen, or in the freezer.

Sugar Snap grows as tall vines, five to eight feet high, needing strong stakes or a trellis for support. It tolerates some heat but favors cool temperatures and is notably cold hardy, with growers reporting vines shrugging off a dusting of snow. Growth is early and abundant, with flowers that draw pollinators into the garden, and the plants are generally easy to grow and dependably resist wilt and frost. Disease resistance is mixed: it resists Fusarium wilt but is very susceptible to powdery mildew, and seed lots may include up to 11 percent snow pea off-types.

Sugar Snap was developed by breeder Calvin Lamborn, who made his first cross toward it in 1969 and spent a decade refining the variety before its release. Its debut earned an AAS Gold Medal, and it was later voted the all-time top All-America Selections winner. Lamborn's work on this breakthrough earned him lasting recognition as the pioneer behind the snap pea type.