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For other uses and abbreviations, click here
A pea, although treated as a vegetable in cooking, is botanically a fruit; the term is most commonly used to describe the small spherical seeds or the pods of the legume Pisum sativum.[1] The name is also used to describe other edible seeds from the Fabaceae like the pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) and the seeds from several species of Lathyrus.
P. sativum is an annual plant, with a lifecycle of one year. It is a cool season crop, planted in winter. The average pea weighs between 0.1 and 0.36 grams.[2] The species is as a fresh vegetable, but is also grown to produce dry peas like the split pea. These varieties are typically called field peas.
P. sativum has been cultivated for thousands of years. The sites of cultivation have been described in southern Syria and southeastern Turkey, and some argue that the cultivation of peas with wheat and barley seems to be associated with the spread of Neolithic agriculture into Europe.[3]
Description
It is a cool-season vegetable crop. The seeds may be planted as soon as the soil temperature reaches 10 °C, with the plants growing best at temperatures of 13 °C to 18 °C. They do not thrive in the summer heat of warmer temperate and lowland tropical climates, but do grow well in cooler high altitude tropical areas. Many cultivars reach maturity about 60 days after planting. Peas grow best in slightly acid, well-drained soils.
Peas have both low-growing and vining cultivars. The vining cultivars grow thin tendrils from leaves that coil around any available support, and can climb to be 1-2 m high. A traditional approach to supporting climbing peas is to thrust branches pruned from trees or other woody plants upright into the soil, providing a lattice for the peas to climb. Branches used in this fashion are called pea brush. Metal fences, twine, or netting supported by a frame, are used for the same purpose. In dense plantings, peas give each other some measure of mutual support.
Varieties
Several varieties of P. sativum have been bred. Widely cultivated examples include:
- Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon is commonly known as the snow pea
- Pisum sativum var. macrocarpon ser. cv. is known as the sugar snap pea
Diseases
- Main article: List of pea diseases
Ways of eating peas
Template:Nutritionalvalue In early times peas were grown mostly for their dry seeds. Along with broad beans and lentils these formed an important part of the diet of most people in Europe during the Middle Ages (Bianchini 1975 p 40). By the 1600s and 1700s it became popular to eat peas "green", that is, while they are immature and right after they are picked. This was especially true in France and England, where the eating of green peas was said to be "both a fashion and a madness" (OSU 2006). New cultivars of peas were developed by the English during this time which beca me known as "garden peas" and "English peas." The popularity of green peas spread to North America. Thomas Jefferson grew more than 30 cultivars of peas on his estate (Kafka 2005 p 297). With the invention of canning and freezing of foods, green peas became available year-round, not just in spring as before.
Fresh peas are often eaten boiled and flavored with butter and/or spearmint as a side dish vegetable. Salt is also commonly added to peas when served. Fresh peas are also used in pot pies, salads and casseroles. Pod peas (particularly sweet cultivars called mangetout and sugar peas, or the flatter "snow peas," called hé lán dòu, 荷兰豆 in Chinese) are used in stir-fried dishes, particularly those in American Chinese cuisine.[2] Pea pods do not keep well once picked, and if not used quickly are best preserved by drying, canning or freezing within a few hours of harvest.
In India, fresh peas are used in various dishes such as Aloo Matar (Potato with Peas), though they can be substituted with frozen peas as well. Peas are also eaten raw as they are sweet when fresh off the bush.
Dried peas are often made into a soup or simply eaten on their own. In Japan and other Southeast Asian countries including Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia, the peas are roasted and salted, and eaten as snacks. In the UK, dried yellow split peas are used to make pease pudding (or "pease porridge"), a traditional dish. In North America a similarly traditional dish is split pea soup.
In Chinese cuisine, pea sprouts (豆苗 dòu miáo) are commonly used in stir-fries and its price is relatively high due to its agreeable taste.
In the United Kingdom, dried, rehydrated and mashed marrowfat peas, known by the public as mushy peas, are popular, originally in the north of England but now ubiquitously, and especially as an accompaniment to fish and chips or meat pies, particular in fish and chip shops. Sodium bicarbonate is sometimes added to soften the peas. In 2005, a poll of 2,000 people revealed the pea to be Britain's 7th favorite culinary vegetable. Processed peas are mature peas which have been dried, soaked and then heat treated (processed) to prevent spoilage — in the same manner as pasteurising.
Cooked peas are sometimes sold dried and coated with wasabi as a spicy snack.
Some forms of etiquette require that peas be only eaten with a fork and not pushed onto the fork with a knife [3][4].
Peas in science
In the mid-1800s, Gregor Mendel's observations of pea pods led to the principles of Mendelian genetics, the foundation of modern genetics.
Etymology
According to etymologists, the term was taken from the Latin pisum and adopted into English as the mass noun pease, as in pease pudding. However, by analogy with other plurals ending in -s, speakers began construing pease as a plural and constructing the singular form by dropping the "s", giving the term "pea". This process is known as back-formation.
The name marrowfat pea for mature dried peas is recorded by the OED as early as 1733. The fact that an export cultivar popular in Japan is called Maro has led some people to assume mistakenly that the English name marrowfat is derived from Japanese.
Peas in Pop Culture
A fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, The Princess and the Pea, tells of a young princess with such delicate skin that she complained about feeling a single pea underneath numerous mattresses.
See also
References
- Bianchini, F. & Corbetta, F., 1976, The Complete Book of Fruits and Vegetables. New York : Crown Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-517-52033-8.
- European Association for Grain Legume Research (AEP). Pea. [5].
- Hernández Bermejo, J. E. & León, J., (1992). Neglected crops: 1492 from a different perspective, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO)[6]
- Kafka, B., 2005, Vegetable Love, New York : Artisan, ISBN 978-1-57965-168-8
- Muehlbauer, F. J. and Tullu, A., (1997). Pisum sativum L. Purdue University[7].
- Oelke, E. A., Oplinger E. S., et al. (1991). Dry Field Pea. University of Wisconsin[8].
- Oregon State University (OSU). (2006). Green Peas, Garden Peas, Peas. [9].