Snap Peas
Food · Vegetable · Food, Typed Supps
A handful of snap peas can cover your whole day's vitamin C, pod and all.
Stage by stage
- Crunch & Chew (Mouth): Chewing the crisp pod breaks open plant cell walls and starts releasing its vitamin C and fiber.
- Acid Breakdown (Stomach): Stomach acid breaks down the pea's proteins, freeing bound micronutrients for absorption further down the gut.
- Nutrient Uptake (Small intestine): The small intestine absorbs water-soluble vitamin C directly, while fat-soluble vitamin K is packaged with dietary fat for uptake.
- Clotting & Collagen (Liver & tissues): Vitamin K reaches the liver to activate blood-clotting proteins, while vitamin C is used throughout the body to build and repair collagen.
Timing
Vitamin K1 in snap peas is fat-soluble, so eating them alongside a source of fat, such as olive oil, nuts, or hummus, improves how much of it you absorb.
Time to effect
- Hours to weeks: Vitamin C from snap peas is absorbed and raises plasma levels within a few hours, while vitamin K's influence on clotting-factor activity builds gradually over days to weeks of consistent intake.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Keto, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.
In season
May to August in the northern hemisphere, November to February in the southern.
Satiety
The satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings. At 42 kcal per 100 g that is 571 g of this, which is not a serving anyone eats — so the index has nothing to say about it.
Environmental footprint
1 kg CO2e and 397 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Peas" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Cheap — roughly £2.2 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 42
- Protein: 2.8g
- Carbohydrate: 7.2g
- of which sugars: 4g
- Fat: 0.3g
- of which saturated: 0g
- Fibre: 3.1g
- Sodium: 4mg
Food vs. supplement
A cup of raw snap peas supplies close to a full day's vitamin C along with fiber and vitamin K that an isolated vitamin C supplement doesn't provide.
Kitchen tip
Eat snap peas raw or steam them briefly (1-2 minutes) with a drizzle of olive oil to preserve vitamin C and help absorb the vitamin K.
Common myth
"Snap peas are basically just sugar and crunch, with little real nutrition." In reality: Raw snap peas provide about 60 mg of vitamin C per 100 g (100% of the Daily Value) and roughly 25 mcg of vitamin K, along with fiber and vitamin A, making the edible pod itself a genuine nutrient source rather than just a wrapper for the peas inside.
More in Vegetable
In the glossary
Sources