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Pea ( pisum in Latin) is a Legume or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name Pisum sativum in 1753 (meaning Sativum pea). Some sources now treat it as Lathyrus oleraceus; however the need and justification for the change is disputed. Each pod contains several seeds (peas), which can have green or yellow cotyledons when mature. Botanically, pea pods are fruit,Rogers, Speed (2007). Man and the Biological World Read Books. pp. 169–170. . Retrieved on 2009-04-15. since they contain seeds and develop from the ovary of a "pea" flower. The name is also used to describe other edible seeds from the Fabaceae such as the pigeon pea ( Cajanus cajan), the cowpea ( Vigna unguiculata), the seeds from several species of Lathyrus, and Sturt's desert pea.
Peas are , with a life cycle of one year. They are a cool-season crop grown in many parts of the world; planting can take place from winter to early summer depending on location. The average pea weighs between . The immature peas (and in and the tender pod as well) are used as a vegetable, fresh, frozen or canned; varieties of the species typically called field peas are grown to produce dry peas like the split pea shelled from a matured pod. These are the basis of pease porridge and pea soup, staples of medieval cuisine; in Europe, consuming fresh immature green peas was an innovation of early modern cuisine.
Peas have both low-growing and vine cultivars. The vining cultivars grow thin from leaves that coil around any available support and can climb to be high. A traditional approach to supporting climbing peas is to thrust branches pruned from or other woody plants upright into the soil, providing a lattice for the peas to climb. Branches used in this fashion are called pea sticks or sometimes 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. Pea plants can self-pollinate.
The name sugar pea can include both types or be synonymous with either snow peas or snap peas in different dictionaries. Likewise mangetout (; from , 'eat-all pea').
Snow peas and snap peas both belong to Macrocarpon Group, a cultivar group based on the variety Pisum sativum var. macrocarpum Ser. named in 1825. It was described as having very compressed non-leathery edible pods in the original publication.
The scientific name Pisum sativum var. saccharatum Ser. is often misused for snow peas. The variety under this name was described as having sub-leathery and compressed-terete pods and a French name of petit pois. The description is inconsistent with the appearance of snow peas, and therefore botanists have replaced this name with Pisum sativum var. macrocarpum.
It is a climbing annual legume with weak, viny, and relatively succulent stems. Vines often are 4 to 5 feet (120 to 150 cm) long, but when grown alone, field pea's weak stems prevent it from growing more than 1.5 to 2 feet (45 to 60 cm) tall. Leaves have two leaflets and a tendril. Flowers are white, pink, or purple. Pods carry seeds that are large (4,000 seeds/lb), nearly spherical, and white, gray, green, or brown. The root system is relatively shallow and small, but well nodulated.
The field pea is a cool-season legume crop that is grown on over 25 million acres worldwide. It has been an important grain legume crop for millennia, seeds showing domesticated characteristics dating from at least 7,000 years ago have been found in archaeological sites around what is now Turkey. Field peas or "dry peas" are marketed as a dry, shelled product for either human or livestock food, unlike the garden pea, which is marketed as a fresh or canned vegetable. The major producing countries of field peas are Russia and China, followed by Canada, Europe, Australia and the United States. Europe, Australia, Canada and the U.S. raise over 4.5 million acres (18,000 km²) and are major exporters of peas. In 2002, there were approximately 300,000 acres (1,200 km²) of field peas grown in the U.S.
Peas are mentioned in Aristophanes's The Birds The Greeks and Romans were cultivating this legume from around 500 BC to 400 BC, with vendors in the streets of Athens selling hot pea soup.: "vendors in the streets of classical Athens were selling hot pea soup."
In the early 3rd century BC, Theophrastus mentions peas among the legumes that are sown late in the winter because of their tenderness.Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum, VIII.i.4. In the first and second centuries BC, Cato the Elder and Varro both mention peas in their respective works De agri cultura and De re rustica.Hooper, William Davis & Ash, Harrison Boyd: Marcus Porcius Cato, On agriculture; Marcus Terentius Varro, On agriculture Volume 283 of Loeb classical library. Loeb classical library. Latin authors. Harvard University Press, 1934. Pages 141, 257, 299, 465.
In the Middle Ages, field peas are constantly mentioned, as they were the staple that kept famine at bay, as Charles the Good, count of Flanders, noted explicitly in 1124.Edict quoted in Michel Pitrat and Claude Four, Histoires de légumes: Des origines à l'orée du XXIe siècle, "Le pois au cours des siècles" :353.
Green "garden" peas, eaten immature and fresh, were an innovative luxury of Early Modern Europe. In England, the distinction between field peas and garden peas dates from the early 17th century: John Gerard and John Parkinson both mention garden peas. Snow and snap peas, which the French called mange-tout, because they were eaten pods and all, were introduced to France from the market gardens of Holland in the time of Henri IV, through the French ambassador. Green peas were introduced from Genoa to the court of Louis XIV of France in January 1660, with some staged fanfare. A hamper of them was presented before the King. They were shelled by the Savoyan comte de Soissons, who had married a niece of Cardinal Mazarin. Little dishes of peas were then presented to the King, the Queen, Cardinal Mazarin and Monsieur, the king's brother.An account is in Toussaint-Samat. Immediately established and grown for earliness warmed with manure and protected Greenhouse, they were still a luxurious delicacy in 1696, when Mme de Maintenon and Mme de Sevigné each reported that they were "a fashion, a fury".Quoted by Michel Pitrat and Claude Four.
The first sweet tasting pea was developed in the 18th century by amateur plant breeder Thomas Edward Knight of Downton, near Salisbury, England. Modern , with their indigestible skins rubbed off, are a development of the later 19th century. The first pea harvesting machine ("pea viner") able to shell peas through impact was invented around 1890 by John Alexander Chisholm.
By contrast, the two edible-pod pea varieties snow peas and snap peas are still usually picked by hand. A prototype for an automated snap pea harvester was being researched in 2017.
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| 6,592,000 | |
| 401,866 | |
| 268,200 | |
| 237,270 | |
| 211,552 | |
| 155,616 | |
| 21,484,769 | |
Additionally, insects such as the pea leaf weevil ( Sitona lineatus) can damage peas and other pod fruits. The pea leaf weevil is native to Europe, but has spread to other places such as Alberta, Canada. They are about — long and are distinguishable by three light-coloured stripes running length-wise down the thorax. The weevil feed on the of pea plants, which are essential to the plants' supply of nitrogen, and thus diminish leaf and stem growth. Adult weevils feed on the leaves and create a notched, "c-shaped" appearance on the outside of the leaves.
The Cydia nigricana can be a serious pest producing caterpillars the resemble small white maggots in the pea-pods. The caterpillars eat the developing peas making them unsightly and unsuitable for culinary use. Prior to the use of modern insecticides, pea moth caterpillars were a very common sight in pea pods.
Fresh peas are often eaten boiled and flavored with butter or spearmint as a side dish vegetable. Salt and pepper are also commonly added to peas when served. Fresh peas are also used in , salads and . Pod peas ( and ) are used in stir-fried dishes, particularly those in American Chinese cuisine. 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.
Dried peas are often made into a soup or simply eaten on their own. In Japan, China, Taiwan and some countries, including Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia, peas are roasted and salted, and eaten as . In the Philippines, peas, while still in their pods, are a common ingredient in viands and pansit. In the UK, dried yellow or green 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.
Pea soup is eaten in many other parts of the world, including northern Europe, parts of middle Europe, Russia, Iran, Iraq and India.
In India, fresh peas are used in various dishes such as aloo matar (curried potatoes with peas) or mattar paneer (paneer cheese 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. Green peas known as hasiru batani in Kannada are used to make curry and gasi. Split peas are also used to make dal, particularly in Guyana, and Trinidad, where there is a significant population of Indian people.
In Chinese cuisine, the tender new growth leaves dou miao (豆苗; dòu miáo) are commonly used in stir-fries. Much like picking the leaves for tea, the farmers pick the tips off of the pea plant.
In Greece, Tunisia, Turkey, Cyprus, and other parts of the Mediterranean, peas are made into a stew with lamb and potatoes.
In Hungary and Serbia, pea soup is often served with and spiced with hot paprika.
In the United Kingdom, dried, rehydrated and mashed marrowfat peas, or cooked green split peas, known as mushy peas, are popular, originally in the north of England, but now ubiquitously, and especially as an accompaniment to fish and chips or , particularly 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 seventh favourite 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 Pasteurization. Cooked peas are sometimes sold dried and coated with wasabi, salt, or other spices.
In North America pea milk is produced and sold as an alternative to cow milk for a variety of reasons.
Mendel chose peas for his experiments because he could grow them easily, pure-bred strains were readily available, and the structure of the flowers protect them from cross-pollination, and cross pollination was easy. Mendel cross-bred tall and dwarf pea plants, green and , purple and white flowers, wrinkled and smooth peas, and a few other traits. He then observed the resulting offspring. In each of these cases, one trait is dominant and all the offspring, or Filial-1 (abbreviated F1) generation, showed the dominant trait. Then he allowed the F1 generation to self pollinate and observed their offspring, the Filial-2 (abbreviated F2) generation. The F2 plants had the dominant trait in approximately a 3:1 ratio. He studied later generations of self pollinated plants, and performed crosses to determine the nature of the pollen and egg cells.
Mendel reasoned that each parent had a 'vote' in the appearance of the offspring, and the non-dominant, or recessive, trait appeared only when it was inherited from both parents. He did further experiments that showed each trait is separately inherited. Unwittingly, Mendel had solved a major problem with Charles Darwin's theory of evolution: how new traits were preserved and not blended back into the population, a question Darwin himself did not answer. Mendel's work was published in an obscure Austrian journal and was not rediscovered until about 1900.
When a pea plant dies in the field, for example following the harvest, all of its remaining nitrogen, incorporated into inside the remaining plant parts, is released back into the soil. In the soil, the amino acids are converted to nitrate (), that is available to other plants, thereby serving as fertilizer for future crops.Postgate, J (1998). Nitrogen Fixation, 3rd Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK
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