‘Alive, fruity and with a soft texture’: the best supermarket frozen peas, tasted and rated
Our expert taste-tester gives peas a chance – but which received a frosty reception?
The sweetness of a pea is more than just a desirable taste; it’s an indication of a pea picked at the perfect moment. As the sugars convert into starch, peas lose their sweetness rapidly after picking, leading to a less sweet, more fibrous and lower-quality product.
That’s why high-quality peas are picked, blanched and frozen as quickly as possible, usually all within two and a half hours. That said, other factors such as soil, seed quality, transportation and a stable freezer temperature all affect a frozen pea’s quality.
All the peas scored well for taste, but their texture was rather more varied. To measure the sweetness of the peas, I used a Brix refractometer, a tool designed for measuring the sugar content of fruit and veg. I awarded an extra point to peas with a Brix rating of 10 or more. I also scored them on cost, country of origin and organic status.
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The best supermarket frozen peas
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Best overall:
M&S British garden peas
£1.70 for 1kg at Ocado (17p/100g) ★★★★☆
Bright green peas with a firm texture, a sweet, floral flavour and the grower (East Coast Viners) clearly labelled on the packet. Packed and frozen within 90 minutes, which contributes to their superb texture and 10.7 Brix sweetness.
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Best bargain:
Asda garden peas
£1.45 for 1kg at Asda (15p/100g) ★★★★☆
A sweet, bright green British pea with a well-balanced, quintessentially pea-y flavour – alive, fruity and with a soft texture. Very small to medium in size and well frozen; at 10.8, among the highest Brix ratings in this test, too.
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And the rest …
Sainsbury’s garden peas
£1.55 for 910g at Sainsbury’s (17p/100g)★★★★☆
Small to medium-sized, sweet, ripe British peas. In good condition, plump and with only a few splits. Taut, fresh-looking skins once cooked, and al dente with a distinct, aromatic, fresh flavour and a strong 10.5 Brix score.
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Co-op British garden peas
£1.35 for 750g at Co-op (18p/100g)★★★★☆
A perfect batch of small to medium-sized frozen peas, all ripe, plump and in great condition. A clean, firm bite, a sweet but rounded flavour, and a decent 10.5 Brix score.
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Essential Waitrose garden peas
£1.25 for 725g at Waitrose (17p/100g)★★★★☆
Perfectly frozen, small to large plump British peas. Nicely taut skins, a firm bite, a balanced, classic sweet pea flavour and a good Brix score of 10.5.
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The Grower’s Harvest garden peas
£1.15 for 900g at Tesco (13p/100g)★★★☆☆
Earthy, minerally, dense peas with a tender texture. Satisfying, too, but a little let down by a low-ish Brix score of 9.5. Perfectly frozen and uniform in size. No obvious country of origin.
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Freshona British garden peas
£1.15 for 900g at Lidl (13p/100g), in store only★★☆☆☆
A firm, fatty texture with an underlying sweetness and a 9.7 Brix score. Uniform, medium-sized peas with a touch of freezer burn, but a good product for the price.
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Morrisons British garden peas
£1.70 for 1kg at Morrisons (17p/100g)★★☆☆☆
Perfectly frozen, uniform and plump medium-large peas. A touch mealy, but a nice, firm texture and a Brix of 9.7. Cooked evenly with taut skins.
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Four Seasons British garden peas
£1.15 for 900g at Aldi (13p/100g), in store only★☆☆☆☆
Very small to medium-sized peas. The bag was a bit bashed up and icy, but the contents tasted bright and flavourful. A very low Brix score of 7.1, though that was possibly affected by freezer damage, which also gave the peas a soft, watery texture.
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Birds Eye garden peas
£3.60 for 1.2kg at Tesco (30p/100g) £4.05 for 1.2kg at Ocado (34p/100g)☆☆☆☆☆
Frostbitten, slightly bashed-up and overpriced small peas. Soft in texture, too, and with a starchy and low Brix score of 8.
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