Pois croquant

Pea sugar and menthol; the pairing pea shells invented centuries ago.

Barely melted, tossed off the heat, so the pod still snaps.

Acid stops the sweetness reading as sugar snap sweets.

Salt curd against sugar; crush the pods so the brine gets inside.

Raw and sliced lengthways, they need fat more than they need heat.

Peppery isothiocyanate against pea sugar, both raw and cold.

Mild allium that does not shout over a very quiet vegetable.

Lactic acid dressing clings to a pod too smooth for vinaigrette.

Estragole and pea sugar, the French answer to mint.

Toasted seed grit on a pod that has no texture of its own beyond snap.

Methoxypyrazine green under juniper resin, and the pod snap does the rest.

Both run floral and green; the cordial dresses the raw pods cold.