A snap pea (or sugar snap pea) is a pea variety with a thick, fleshy pod that stays sweet and crisp even as the peas inside mature, so the whole pod is eaten rather than shelled. It was bred in the 1970s by American plant breeder Calvin Lamborn, who crossed a thick-walled mutant shelling pea with a snow pea to get a pod that would not turn tough or stringy.
Snap peas are eaten raw, briefly steamed, or sauteed; overcooking turns their crisp pods limp. They are common in stir-fries and noodle dishes with garlic, ginger, and soy sauce, and just as at home raw in salads or paired with lemon, olive oil, and fresh herbs like mint or basil.
Unlike snow peas, which have flat, thin pods eaten before the peas swell, snap peas have rounder, thicker pods eaten after the peas have filled out. To prepare, trim the stem end and pull away the string along the seam before cooking or eating raw.