Snow peas are rich in nutritional value and are a crisp, healthy legume vegetable.

Snow peas are a soft-pod variety of the garden pea, a climbing herbaceous plant in the Fabaceae family, also known as soft-pod peas, Holland peas, and by other names. Their biggest difference from ordinary peas is that the pod walls are thin and tender with little fiber; the pods are harvested whole before the peas swell and are eaten pod and all, with a crisp, slightly sweet texture.

Nutritionally, snow peas contain vitamin C, carotene, and B vitamins, and also provide plant protein and dietary fiber; they are low in fat and contain minerals such as potassium and iron. They are high in water and low in calories, and including snow peas in your daily vegetable mix helps supplement micronutrients and promote intestinal peristalsis.

For eating, snow peas are suited to plain stir-frying, stir-frying with garlic, or blanching for cold dishes, and are often paired with shrimp, cured meats, Chinese yam, and more. Cooking time should not be too long; quick stir-frying over high heat or a short blanching keeps the crisp, tender texture and also reduces the loss of heat-sensitive vitamins. When buying, choose those with flat pods, emerald green color, and barely visible strings.

Note that snow peas look similar to sugar snap peas: the former is mainly eaten for its tender pods and has smaller peas, while the latter has thick pod flesh and is crisp and sweet both pod and pea. Snow peas are best cooked before eating; raw pods taste grassy and are hard to digest. People with weak digestion who tend to feel bloated should not eat too many at one time, and eating them together with staple foods and other vegetables makes for a more balanced meal.